Spartans drop Champions Classic matchup in hard-fought contest.
In the third game of the season, facing a level of competition they have not seen yet this year, MSU came up short, falling to Kansas 77-69. But if I am going to be honest, MSU made this a much tighter game than I thought it would be. While Kansas jumped out to a considerable lead right off the bat, MSU battled back to draw even and even held a lead for a few minutes in the middle of the first half.
The Jayhawks finished the half strong, going from down 18-16 to up 30-20 before Jase Richardson had a four-point play to send the teams to the locker rooms with Kansas us 30-24.
In the second half, Michigan State battled back and drew even again at 39 apiece with 14 minutes left. From there, the teams would trade baskets until just under the 9-minute mark and the score knotted at 52. After that, Kansas slowly pulled away, building a lead as large as nine points. When the final buzzer sounded, Bill Self’s Jayhawks claimed their ninth victory all-time in the Champions Classic. The Spartans fell for the first time this year.
Certainly, there were some things to shake our heads at in this game, but there were also some silver linings. Let’s get to the lists.
3 Things I Liked:
1. Grit. Maybe I am still thinking about Sunday night’s Lions game, but this Spartan squad showed a great deal of resolve and determination against the Jayhawks. The number of times that MSU battled back from deficits to get back in the game was impressive. And they were not doing it by catching fire offensively, but rather by clamping down on the defensive end. They forced Kansas into a few scoring droughts (sure, some of this was bad luck on KU’s part) with physical guarding down low and an attacking defense on the perimeter. Every time Kansas scored a couple baskets in a row, I began to worry. But MSU would respond and make me think that we would prevail. If this team can continue to battle like that all season, they could exceed many of our win projections.
2. Bench scoring. Jaxon Kohler scored 12 points. Jase Richardson scored 8. Coen Carr also had 8. Carson Cooper added 6. And Tre Holloman dropped in 5. As a unit, the bench scored 39 of the 69 points scored by the Green & White. With ten rebounds, Kohler had his second consecutive double-double, this one in 23 minutes on the floor. And he did this with Hunter Dickinson and Flory Bidunga getting the bulk of the assignments to cover him. Between him and Richardson, MSU has two of their most consistent (through three games) scorers coming off the bench.
3. Jeremy Fears pushing the tempo. Fears ended with six assists in the game, over half of the team total, but the fact of the matter is that that number could have been much higher. Unfortunately for MSU, it was not a good shooting night, particularly from three-point range (more on that shortly), and many of shots that would have been another dime for Fears had they gone in bounced off the rim. But Fears was clearly looking to push the ball up court, and he was showing great confidence with his handles, even driving the ball into the trees on a few occasions. Jeremy did score a couple of his shots on the inside, but he did have some of his attempts go off target due to good Kansas defense. If and when he learns how to draw fouls or hit off-balance shots, he will become even more valuable for Coach Izzo. In the meantime, he does need to continue helping his teammates get easy buckets by getting the ball up court in a hurry.
3 Things I Disliked
1. Three-point shooting. 3-24 from behind the arc is unacceptable. One of those was Richardson’s four-point play to end the first half. Jaxon Kohler hit one in the middle of the 2nd half. The last one was with 29 seconds left in the game, this one from Frankie Fidler. The Spartans missed their first nine attempts from downtown. In the modern game of basketball, missing that percentage of triples with that amount of volume is rarely going to end up in a victory. It would be like trailing a football game by 16 points and having your QB throw five interceptions, yet somehow still finding a way to win.
2. Starters struggling to score. Jaden Akins shot 1-8. Frankie Fidler was 3-12. Xavier Booker was 0-5. Combined, three starters shot 4-25 from the floor. Fidler did contribute by going 8-8 from the line, but even with that, these three players totaled 17 points. I said in the preview that the guys who had been contributing would have to continue to do so and one or two other guys were going to have to do more than they have in the first two games this year. In the end, the guys who were needed did not show up. Tonight, Richardson and Kohler carried the team. But more hands were needed.
3. hunter dickinson. The former um player came out dominating both sides of the floor, scoring Kansas’ first eight points and also picking up three steals in the opening five minutes. For most of the game, we did not have an answer for his offense, and he finished going 13-21 for 28 points. While MSU was successful in not fouling him a ton (he only had 4 FTAs), they were unsuccessful in making hunter pass the ball out on a regular basis. dickinson was shooting the ball mostly whenever he wanted to.
What about you guys? What did you see in this game?