Spartans show the Huskies what Big Ten basketball is all about
Sheesh! That game was stressful. I mean, if you had bet the over, you were probably feeling really uncomfortable. Fortunately for Spartan Nation, that was just about the only source of stress this evening. After falling in an early 1-0 hole, the Spartans scored the next 16 points and never looked back.
This was just one of those games where one team came out flat and by the time they settled into the game, it was already out of reach. I had read an article earlier in the day about another former Pac-12 addition to the conference, and their coach commented that in their previous conference, these west coast teams were used to playing a lot of Friday/Sunday road trips. I guess this new Big Ten scheduling, in addition to the greater travel distances, could be having some unforeseen (or maybe not so unforeseen) impacts on the new members of the conference. They had mentioned this was Washington’s first game outside their home time zone. This was, perhaps, ripe circumstances for a blowout. That is what we got.
Michigan State got that 16-1 advantage just before the midway point of the 1st half on a highlight-reel dunk from Coen Carr (aren’t they all highlight-reel material?) where he took off from just outside the paint before stuffing it down with his left hand. After adding their second made FT and then scoring their first FG of the contest to get within a dozen, the Spartans would respond by going on a 16-6 stretch, capped off with an old-fashioned three-point play by Jeremy Fears Jr.
Over the final four minutes of the first half, Michigan State went on a 10-1 run to reach intermission up 42-13. Jeremy Fears led the team in scoring after 20 minutes with ten points, and he was followed by Jaden Akins at nine and Jase Richardson with six. Richardson also had three first-half steals. In all, MSU had nine players score in the first, every guy who saw the floor other than Tre Holloman. Holloman actually was the lone bad performance in the first half, going to the locker room shooting 0-4.
As a team, the Spartans went 14-31 in the first, and had assists on 12 of those 14 made FGs. MSU started the game making two of their first four triple tries but ended the first half going 3/13 from deep. At the other end, the Huskies were a painful 5-29 and 0-7 from beyond the arc. Their stud player, Great Osobor, was held to just a single point. The usually-effective interior player had a rough go of it dealing with the length of the MSU big men. The height advantage of MSU’s centers was forcing Osobor to misfire his shots and he became frustrated early. In addition, the pace of MSU’s offensive game was gassing the big guy, which only added to his offensive struggles.
After taking a 29-point lead to the half, Michigan State kept their foot on the gas and extended the lead to 37 points within five minutes of play. State would enjoy a 41-point cushion at one point later in the second half, before surrendering a 13-6 Huskies run over the final four minutes and change. When the final buzzer sounded, Tom Izzo’s squad won by a score of 88-54.
Great Osobor was held without a FG, finishing 0-8 from the field, though he did score six points at the FT line. Washington only had one player in double figures; Tyler Harris scored 14. The Huskies finished shooting 18-55 (32.7%) and 3-16 (18.8%) from 3.
Michigan State ended up going 32-61 (52.5%) and 7-21 (33.3%) from deep. Jaden Akins finished with 20 to lead the way. Fears and Richardson finished with a dozen each, and Holloman, who was the lone Spartan scoreless at the break, scored 11 in the 2nd half.
Let’s get to the lists.
3 Things I Liked:
1. Defense! As impressive as some of the offensive displays were in this game, my big takeaway was the effort given on the defensive end. I already mentioned the trouble that the bigs were giving to Osobor, holding him without making a field goal all game. A special shoutout to Carson Cooper here. His low-post defense has improved tremendously since last season. He may not be racking up blocks and steals (he did have two blocks tonight), but he is just playing tough, disciplined defense. He rarely bites on an opponent’s first move, so he does not get beaten by the dribble often, allowing him to remain in good position for when the shooter eventually does take his shot.
Aside from Cooper, we saw plenty of other guys provided help defense, often getting a blind side rejection to make sure Washington was not getting easy baskets from which to get some momentum. MSU preferred to commit fouls and make Washington make FTs (which they missed more than 1⁄3 of their attempts), a strategy that clearly worked.
I also need to give a mention to Jase Richardson for an amazing hustle play. After losing the ball on the offensive end, Jase chased down an outlet pass by Osobor to a teammate who had snuck out past everyone. The pass was not great, but Richardson does not reach it without giving it 100%. So Jase catches up to the pass before it reaches its intended target, steals it back for MSU, and five seconds later, Fears drained a three.
2. Hitting tough shots. Fears converted a tough runner. Akins tossed up a runner after almost getting turned backwards and got the shot to drop. Booker broke through traffic for one of his slams. And Holloman, once he broke the seal, hit a couple shots when he was closely defended. The offensive talent on this team is impressive. It does not matter if someone is having an off night because there are plenty of people to pick up the slack.
3. 24 assists on 32 made field goals. MSU recorded a helper on 75% of their buckets tonight. Fears led the way with ten of them and Holloman added six. I like that the point guards are getting the bulk of this statistic. The best Izzo teams are the ones where his PGs are creating opportunities for their teammates and getting them easy scores.
3 Things I Disliked:
1. Losing the double-up. Right up until seven minutes left in the game, Michigan State was doubling up Washington’s score. MSU would regain a 200% advantage with just over four minutes remaining. After that, however, Washington had their best run of the game and MSU could not keep scoring twice as often, and MSU settled for a 34-point victory.
2. Fears still in the game with under four minutes to go. I really wanted to see more run time for the bench warmers – Kur Teng, Gehrig Normand, and Nick Sanders. The game was well out of hand so why not let these guys, our scout team, get their chances to score? Sanders took immediate advantage of his opportunity, but Teng and Normand did not even get a shot off.
3. Referees calling fouls with less than a second left. In the game being broadcast earlier in the evening, which already pushed back the start of our game, a foul was called with 0.6 seconds left. That ensuing trip to the FT line caused BTN to stay with that game a little longer and for me to miss the first 19 seconds of MSU action. Next time, I hope they let that call go so I can see the jump ball of my game.
Victory for MSU!