Spartans remain perfect in B1G play, move to 5-0
On Sunday, Michigan State were in Evanston, IL, to take on a team that has given us struggles the last few years. In the early going, this game felt like it could be another closely contested game between the Spartans and Wildcats. MSU looked like they skipped their pregame warmup and were a bit slow and sloppy in the early going. The Spartans were giving up offensive rebounds and second chance points, turning the ball over, and not hitting the shots they were taking. Five minutes into the game, MSU was down 13-8.
And then something snapped. In the span of about two and a half minutes, right up until the under-12 timeout, the Spartans used a 9-3 run to take a 17-16 lead, a stretch that saw three consecutive three-point plays (two triples and one and-1 play).
From there, things got bad for the home team as their guests had an 11-0 run between commercial breaks to really blow the game open. Frankie Fidler got involved here with a pair of buckets that showed off the offensive game we were expecting him to bring to East Lansing.
The next segment was a 15-5 advantage for MSU to really get this game into “comfortable viewing” territory, and the score was 43-21 at the under-4. Some of the lack of hustle that MSU displayed in the early going was now being shown by Northwestern, though the Spartan hustle, primarily by Jeremy Fears and Jase Richardson, was clearly impacting the Wildcats’ play. With a Xavier Booker alley-oop, all ten Spartans in the regular rotation were on the scoreboard.
MSU may have taken their foot off the gas just before halftime as they surrendered a 4-7 stretch to go into the break up 47-28. The Bench outscored the starters 24-23, led by Jase’s 10. MSU hit 4/6 from deep; NW made the same amount, but on 15 shots. Izzo’s bunch had an assist on 14 of 18 first half field goals, indicative of the good ball flow. Fears had six of those dimes and Jaxon Kohler had four.
MSU had a slow start to the second half and looked a little sloppy in the first minute or so coming out of the break. But they used some great hustle plays on defense to get their offensive game going. They had back-to-back interceptions, both by Akins, the second leading to a Zapala layup. Unfortunately, MSU struggled to convert a few layups in the opening segment of half number two, and they lost a point from their halftime lead to go to commercial with the score 52-34.
Not much happened in the next stretch of play other than MSU committing some fouls. Both teams were struggling with their shot, though, and the lead was down to 17, 58-41 at the under-12.
The Wildcats made me a little nervous for a minute, getting the game down to just 13, but MSU bounced back. There was no change in the lead when the game went to the next break with MSU up 65-48 with exactly eight minutes on the clock. Richardson was still the only Spartan in double figures, but a number of guys were a bucket away from joining him. Fortunately, only one Wildcat had reached that threshold, and then some, as Nick Martinelli was at 24 at this point.
The Spartans started with a shot-clock violation in the next stretch of play, and then they followed that up with a turnover, a missed field goal, and then another turnover. Northwestern was not taking advantage at all, thankfully, as they were missing all their shots. A technical foul against the NW bench led to a pair of Holloman FTs, ending the scoreless run. The offensive rhythm from the first half had vanished as the Spartans would then have two consecutive turnovers after that, but Fears connected on the next play, though a friendly rim could have been given the credit on that bouncer. NW was earning their trips to the line, getting into the double bonus, and the lead was 69-54 at the under-4.
The fifteen-point lead was enough to coast to the win in the final four minutes though NW got as close as they had been since the middle of the first half when they made it 69-58 with under three minutes to play. A pair of missed front-ends kept MSU from pushing the lead back out, though again the home team could not take advantage. Both teams seemed like they were playing with tired legs as this game wound down. The final four minutes of this game felt like they lasted as long as the rest of the second half as all the points were coming at the free throw line. Northwestern got the Spartan lead down to single digits in the final half-minute and employed the intentional-fouling strategy to prolong the game, and MSU’s second-half FT woes persisted a little longer before Akins sunk four in the final 15 seconds. When this game mercifully ended, the once-upon-a-time 23-point advantage had whittled away to ten. The final score was 78-68, but the second half was nothing like the previous three halves of basketball this team had played.
Let’s get to the lists.
3 Things I Liked:
1. Cooper’s role in the offense. I may be the president of the Carson Cooper Fan Club. Remember when his (and Mady’s) entire role on offense was coming up to the top of the key to set screens and then catch the occasional alley-oop feed? His contributions are so much more this year. He is frequently getting the ball up there, putting it on the floor, and making passes to keep the flow of the offense going. Down low, he is showing some moves and has become adept at drawing fouls, where he is converting at 84% (up from 63 and 47% in his first two seasons). And his decision-making has also improved. There was one play where he had the ball down low, tried to double-pump his way out of a double-team, but then decided to pass out to Coen Carr on the baseline for the easy drive and dunk. I am not saying he needs more minutes, but the ones he is getting have become very enjoyable to watch.
2. Defense is this team’s identity. Steals, blocks, and getting to loose balls. Even in a game like today, particularly in the second half when the offense struggled, the defense did an excellent job keeping Northwestern at bay. Special shoutout to Akins for a play in the first half when he jumped up to snatch a pass out of the air when he was standing maybe three feet away from his assignment. That was sweet.
3. Fidler’s breakout game? Someone predicted this in the preview article (come get your props). Frankie Fidler, the transfer from Omaha, had his best Big Ten game in his Spartan tenure. He finished with 8 points, far from his season high of 15, but this one was not reliant on his ability to get to the stripe. Actually, he only took two FTAs in this one, while going 3/6 from the field. He also had five boards, a steal, and a block. But his engagement and hustle seemed improved in this one. Hopefully this version of Fidler is the one we get going forward.
3 Things I Did Not Like:
1. Holloman’s slow starts. This is the second straight game I am commenting on this. Today, Tre only had two points in the first half, and he also had some turnovers and even fell down on one defensive possession which led to an early NW basket. The upperclassman needs to figure out how to stop having these sluggish starts. On the plus side, for the second game in a row, he looked much better after halftime.
2. Giving up a big performance. Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli led everyone today with 27 points. While this is not his career high – he had 32 earlier this year against Dayton – it is a very impressive stat line against a much tougher opponent. For the most part, no other Wildcat did much offensively (Jalen Leach padded his stats late at the FT line), so this was not enough to change the tide of the game. Still, I don’t like the frequency of other players having some of their best performances against us.
3. Tale of two halves. MSU scored 47 in the first half but only 31 in the second. It was not just missing shots. There were turnovers, shot clock violations, and a general lack of ball movement. Not sure what happened at halftime, but this was not the type of in-game adjustments we like to see. I’m just happy the first half went as well as it did.
VICTORY FOR MSU!!!