Spartans now 1⁄2 game out of 4th place
Michigan State picked up their second sweep of the season on Wednesday night, going on the road to defeat Penn State, 80-72. This comes three games after getting the sweep of Maryland. But unlike the series against the Terrapins, the Spartans dominated both contests versus the Nittany Lions. While the second matchup only ended up being an eight-point victory, it was not that close of a game, and MSU actually held a 14-point lead until PSU knocked down two triples in the final 40 seconds. Sparty led by as many as 17 in the first half.
There were some unusual stars in this game, as the Spartans did not rely on their dynamic duo in the backcourt. Without going back to look at every box score of the season, I would wager that this was the lowest scoring output from the combo of Tyson Walker and AJ Hoggard. The pair finished with 10 points total. But we won’t dwell on that because MSU just went with the hot hand in this one, and it worked.
3 Things I Liked:
- Looking off the defense. I am admittedly not always the most astute observer of basketball, but I did pick up on something that the Spartans did on a few occasions which worked to their advantage. The first two times I saw this, it was Carson Cooper doing it. On a couple of occasions in the first half, when Cooper received the ball down low, his first move was to feign a pass back out to the perimeter. In one instance, this halted a help defender who was coming his way, and then he went up for the short shot. In the other instance, it moved his defender toward his inside shoulder and allowed him to turn baseline and get the layup. Shortly after, Malik Hall collected an offensive rebound and he faked the pass out to trick the nearest defender before going up strong with it. I can’t say if this is a new thing or if I just never noticed it before. There may have even been more examples of this in this game. But I counted it at least three times and each time it gave MSU an easy shot from in close.
- Malik Hall. Speaking of Malicious, the super senior got himself a career high with 29 in this one. He went 10-13 from the field, sunk his only three-ball, and was a perfect 8-8 from the FT line. He had 20 after halftime. He also had ten rebounds and three assists. Hall is making a case during this little streak that MSU is on that he is the most important player on this team. Maybe he wants to be the one to carry the team instead of Walker.
- Cooper and Booker producing. Who had Cooper scoring double digits on their bingo card? His ten-point eruption is a pretty good output for just 18 minutes of play. And then Xavier Booker chipped in with five more points on his only two shots. Sure, he gave up a couple of baskets on the other end, but he was allowed to stay in the game in the aftermath of those, and he responded by making up for it. That is the type of output you need to be happy with from a player only getting a handful of minutes. Along with Mady Sissoko, MSU got 18 points from the center position. I will take that every time on this team.
- Bonus Like. Rebounding. MSU won the rebound battle quite handily. The Spartans pulled down 11 offensive boards to PSU’s six. And the Spartans added 22 on the defensive glass compared to PSU’s 17. The total tally was 33-22 MSU. An 11-rebound advantage feels incredibly strange in this season. Granted, Penn State is not a strong rebounding team and many of you correctly predicted the Spartans winning the battle of the boards in this one, but seeing the rebounds coming from the entire lineup and not just the bigs is an encouraging sign.
3 Dislikes:
- Losing focus. Through 26 minutes of play, the Spartans only had four turnovers. In the final 14 minutes, they coughed up another seven. A number of these were of the unforced variety and were the result of getting a little careless and unfocused. Coach Izzo needs to make sure they stay on task until the final horn. This was something that aided in the final score not being as big as it should have been.
- Walker’s bumps and bruises. For the umpteenth consecutive game, there was a short break in the action after Ty Fighter went down and was slow to get up. In this one, it looked to me like he fell on his hip, but don’t quote me on that. As predictable as a Walker injury is in every game, it never becomes less agonizing to see. For the Detroit Lions fans among you, Walker’s season is starting to feel like Frank Ragnow’s most recent season, where he would show up on the injury list at the beginning of each week with a new body part which is injured. Good news for those of you who are not devoted followers of the Lions, Ragnow did not miss much time and his play was not impacted by his numerous ailments while he was on the field. I can’t help worry that Tyson’s accumulation of minor injuries will eventually slow him down as March approaches and make him a less impactful player.
- Tre Holloman not looking for his shot. In a game he played 22 minutes in, Tre only launched one FG, which he missed. He did get four assists, but he needs to look to become more of a scoring threat. This can not be another position on the floor that defenses can sag off because they know he is not likely to put one up. He definitely passed up a couple of open looks in this one. With his height and athleticism, he does not need to be wide open to get a shot off.
That’s it. These dislikes were mostly me just needing something to put down. Overall, it was a solid game and a fun one to watch thanks to some of the unexpected entries in the box score.
VICTORY FOR MSU!!