Michigan State suspends former Georgia basketball star right before tourney


By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
8:26 a.m. Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Lawrenceville's Chris Allen, a starting guard for No. 11 Michigan State, has been suspended indefinitely as his team prepares for its Big 10 Tournament opener Friday.
Coach Tom Izzo ordered Allen -- the AJC's 2007 Class AAAAA Player of the Year at Meadowcreek High School -- not to practice with the team Tuesday. Izzo told the Detroit News he'll likely decide Wednesday or Thursday whether Allen will travel with the team to Indianapolis for the tournament.
Izzo wouldn't say exactly why the 6-3, 205-pounder was suspended, other than he violated team rules.
“Just not being a good teammate," Izzo told the Detroit Free Press. "There's some guys that don't understand that the team is the most valuable thing you have. You have a responsibility and an obligation to your team. He's not demonstrating that to me or my staff, so I told him to take the day off -- which he did -- but I'm telling him he's taking a game off, and we're going to go down there and try to compete without him."
The sharpshooting junior leads the Spartans in 3-pointers (51) and 3-point percentage (40.8). Allen has started 26 of 31 games and is averaging a career-best 9.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Remarkably, Allen is the fourth MSU guard disciplined by Izzo this season.
The Detroit News said Izzo ordered Kalin Lucas to miss a Dec. 29 practice because he was not happy with Lucas' leadership. Izzo benched Durrell Summers for the second half of Feb. 9 game against Purdue because he thought Summers was playing without focus. And Korie Lucious didn't travel to Penn State for the Feb. 13 game because he failed to meet academic obligations.
Izzo said Allen's suspension had nothing to do with his performance in Sunday's 64-48 win over Michigan, when Allen didn't attempt a shot in 24 minutes.
It was the first time in 101 college games that Allen did not shoot.
But the News noted Allen played terrific defense, helping limit Wolverines leading scorer Manny Harris to four points on 1-of-10 shooting.
"He had been playing better on defense," Summers, Allen's roommate, told the News. "On offense we weren't getting him a lot of shots, but he wasn't complaining or anything like that."
Summer said he was shocked by Allen's suspension.



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