Spartans get tested but come away with a win
Wow! This game was very uncomfortable for Spartan Nation. We knew Samford had the ability to put points on the board, but in the early parts of this game, we also saw them display an ability to keep points off of MSU’s side of the scoreboard. Anything that MSU could do wrong early on, did. But when the home team finally got it turned around, boy did they do it in a hurry. In the end, MSU prevailed 83-75 to move to 4-1. A lot to unpack in this one. Let’s get to the lists.
3 Things I Liked:
1. Strong end to the first half. At the midpoint of the first half, MSU trailed 21-8. With five minutes to go, it was 23-18. In those final five minutes, MSU outpaced Samford 20-5 to go into the break up by 10.
2. Holloman passing. Five first half assists for the backup point guard. There was a no-look pass that moved the defense to allow Coen Carr to be all alone under the basket. There was a driving pass to a cutting Akins that allowed him to make a strong move to the basket. There was a pass to Zapala leading to the big man’s dunk… six seconds after a Samford basket. The performance continued in the second half where Holloman added four more assists to finish with nine.
3. Akins and Richardson attacking the bucket. Game five of this season was when we finally saw an assertive Jaden Akins. On multiple occasions, we got to see the senior attacking the basket with authority and finishing dunks through contact. For the game, Akins scored 25 points, 14 of which were from two-point baskets. And when Akins was not dominating the box score, his primary backup (though they had plenty of overlapping minutes in this game) was. Jase Richardson was the team’s second leading scorer with a dozen off the bench. He too was looking to get the ball moving to the hole. They both were instrumental in helping MSU finally break out of the horrible three-point shooting slump they had been in all season, but in my opinion the bigger story was the two of them scoring inside. If that continues, that will go a long way in helping mask the inconsistent scoring from the big men.
Honorable mentions:
FT shooting – they showed a stat that MSU came into the game #20 in the nation at 80%, and in this game, they went 20-23 for 87%.
Xavier Booker – his seven points matched his season high, but his three-pointer with seven minutes left in the first half and his layup 40 seconds later were the plays that really sparked MSU’s offensive explosion to end the half and turn the game around.
Izzo losing his cool – it was great to see the fire from Coach after Akins was called for a technical in the first half, and Akins responded appropriately. I would say Izzo had been a little nonchalant in the first few games.
3 Things I Disliked:
1. Worst start to a game ever. Fears and Holloman throwing passes away. Carr missing dunks. Richardson getting called for a lane violation on his own FT. The whole team missing the first nine triple tries. This was tough to watch. Samford came out with a higher level of intensity and was forcing mistakes from the home team. We have had an issue with this the last few years, but this one felt particularly awful. Can’t let teams come into Breslin and punch us in the mouth. The better teams in the Big Ten will not let us back into games if we come out like that.
2. Holloman catching passes. I have never noticed this before this game, but there were three separate instances in the early part of this game where Holloman had an issue catching the inbounds pass after a Samford bucket. This resulted in the Bulldogs having a chance to get pressure on Tre, and this in turn led to either a turnover or Tre having to give the ball up before he could get the ball up court. Either way, MSU was not getting points on those possessions. As I said, I’ve never noticed this before, but it was certainly strange. Hopefully this was just a 24-hour case of the butterfingers.
3. Kohler not being utilized. After being the biggest (positive) surprise of the early season, Jaxon was mostly an afterthought against Samford. In his 18 minutes of action, he only took two shots, one of which was an airballed triple. We never got to see his post move arsenal in this game, and he generally looked uncomfortable when he had the rock in his hands. Credit to a swarming defense by the Bulldogs for rattling MSU’s second leading scorer on the young season.
Dishonorable mentions:
Rebounding – MSU and Samford finished even at 30 apiece in the rebounding category. I consider that a loss considering the competition. A lot of this came from the opening stretch of the game when the Bulldogs were outhustling the Spartans and they collected a few offensive boards for extra opportunities.
Letting Samford back into it in the second half – after that epic run to end the first half, the Spartans were unable to keep their foot on the gas. The Bulldogs got as close as five after halftime and never let MSU put this game out of reach.
Jase Richardson getting hurt late – let’s hope this is nothing and he is back for the Colorado game in six days.