EAST LANSING - Tom Izzo made what he called a “Mateen Cleaves decision” to keep his star player out for one more game on Thursday night. Denzel Valentine, cleared medically to play, sat out for the fourth game in a row since his Dec. 21 arthroscopic knee surgery. He could have gone and late Wednesday Izzo thought he might, but Izzo made a decision like he did in 1999-2000 to sit out Cleaves as he was returning from a broken bone in his foot. Izzo held him out against Wright State and the Spartans lost early in their eventual national championship season.
That was not the case against Illinois, as MSU rolled 79-54 in a game that Izzo was not going to let Valentine talk his way into.
“I love Denzel, but if Cleaves can’t talk me into playing him … and I was afraid of Cleaves,” Izzo said. “I look at Denzel and I look at his future, I look at our future and I look at one game. It was a fairly easy decision.”
Valentine cleared to play