Spartans end with 10-10 record in Big Ten
Michigan State traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, for their regular season finale. It was a game of runs and, just like MSU’s Senior Night a few days ago, this game would come down to the wire. After forgetting how to play basketball at the beginning of the game, scoring only seven points in the first ten minutes (for the second consecutive game), and falling behind by as many as 17 points, the Spartans slowly began chipping away at the Hoosier lead and managed to finish the first half down only five points.
In the second half, the Spartans looked like a completely different team early on with great ball movement offensively and finally some success on their three-point shooting as well as a swarming defense that was forcing turnovers with regularity. MSU took their first lead of the game less than three minutes into the second after back-to-back Jaden Akins triples. They would continue to stay hot and grew their lead to as large as seven points with just under ten minutes remaining. From there, though, Indiana punched back and regained the lead a couple minutes later. The two teams traded the lead a few times and then there were a couple instances of Indiana claiming a two-point lead only for MSU to tie it on the next possession.
In the final minute of play, after a Tom Izzo timeout, Tyson Walker was unable to hit a runner, and Carson Cooper’s putback was too strong. Indiana grabbed the rebound and called a timeout of their own. The Hoosiers got the ball inside to their leading scorer, Kel’el Ware, who finished with 28 points. He got the shot off and drew a foul on Malik Hall. He would split the pair and put his team up by one. MSU darted up the floor and called their final timeout with 14 seconds left to play. After the timeout, it was a mirror image of their previous possession, with Walker driving on the right side and throwing up a runner. Like the last time, it went off the rim and a tip-in attempt, this one by Hall, did not go through. A loose ball ensued, the Hoosiers got to it, and the clock ran out.
With the loss, MSU falls to the 8-seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. If they win on Thursday, they will advance to take on conference champion and likely 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Purdue. Having watched this whole season, it does not feel like the Spartans have a prayer at getting past the Boilermakers, if they even survive their game on Thursday. Let’s get to the lists.
3 Things I Liked:
- Trying to shoot their way out of a slump. After that pitiful 2-17 effort on threes against Northwestern, MSU came out early in this one looking like they were going to replicate that performance. Four different Spartans missed three-pointers before Hoggard, the last starter to try a deep shot, made one to get MSU on the board. They would finish the half going 3-8 on their 3s. The second half was a three-point contest for MSU and early on it looked good. I mentioned Akins hitting two in a row. Tyson Walker also hit three more after the break. This is a team that is not going to win many games when it is not hitting its triples (NW was the exception) so even if they do not see them going in early, I still would rather see them continuing to launch in hopes of hitting around their average rather than trying to force more of their offense inside the arc. Izzo needs to remind Akins and Holloman and Hoggard and Booker that they have the green light.
- 12 steals. This has been a growing trend for MSU lately. This team’s ability to slap the ball away from their opponents is turning into an art form. They do need to get a little better still at making sure they don’t turn it right back over when they try to get out on the ensuing break. Still, the ability to limit the number of shots the opposition gets off is possibly the best thing this team has going for it right now.
- Hoggard scoring in double digits. This needs to happen every game. He is capable of hitting one or two three-pointers per game. We also need him to continue to attack the lane and score layups. If he can finish those a little more consistently, it will help MSU have that reliable third option that has been absent for most of the season.
3 Things I Disliked:
- The slow start. It felt like MSU had moved away from this until this past week. It was a massive problem earlier in the season. Simply put, this team is not good enough to float the other team a double-digit lead. Sure, they have shown that they have the ability to come back, but they still end up losing the game so what does it matter. I do not know if they need to change their pregame warmup routine, but somehow this squad needs to stop coming out of the gate so cold.
- Taking Mady Sissoko out every time he gets a foul. I would like to see Izzo let Mady have longer stretches. He can not possibly get into any sort of flow if he does not stay on the court for more than a minute or two. He only played six in today’s game. If he fouls out, so what? With all the other centers being at least as effective as him, he is very replaceable. Let’s see what he looks like if he plays for a five-minute stretch.
- Rebounding. Yep, this one again. Booker and Sissoko had none. Kohler had two. Cooper had seven to bring some redemption to this unit. They had chances at a few others, but had it taken from their hands. MSU can not be dependent on Hall, Akins, and Hoggard to pull down rebounds over taller guys on the other team. The big guys on this team need to be much better in this category.
I am keeping this list simple today. I could have pointed to a number of other things that also contributed to today’s loss.
Let March Madness begin. Hopefully this team can find some magic between now and the tournament.