The Spartans ran out of offense against the top seeded Tar Heels. The loss featured the hallmarks of a frustrating season.
The Spartans had a truly impressive 12-minute game against UNC. Unfortunately, their second round NCAA Tournament matchup lasted a full forty minutes. The Spartans went from a 12-point lead midway through the first half to a 9-point deficit at halftime on their way to an 85-69 loss.
There was some great basketball played by the Spartans in this game, but there was also a lot of really poor basketball.
Details of the Curve for this Game: UNC is a one seed for a reason. They are clearly one of the top teams in the country. Their consistency has been impressive throughout the year. Beyond that, the tournament brings out the best in everyone. The curves disappear and the grades are for the performance in this game.
Offense:
The Spartans started aggressive. A nice jumper by Walker and some inverted offense. AJ Hoggard took a ball in the post, and while he missed it, the effort and strategy were solid.
Mady Sissoko had an early appearance in relief of Carson Cooper. He immediately showed off the improvement that has fueled his play of late. He stood tall on defense and had a rare true post move for a bucket right over Bacot. Initially, his physicality matched up much better against UNC.
The Spartans built an early 17-7 lead shooting the lights out. From Sissoko through Walker to Hall they were grabbing rebounds and hitting shots.
Even when UNC fought back to within 5, the Spartans ripped off an 8-0 run. Tyson Walker looked like the most confident shooter in the conference. In an unexpected contribution, Jaxon Kohler had a move that he started outside the three point line and worked his way to a turnaround jumper near the basket.
A cold streak by the Spartans let UNC back in the game. The Tar Heel defense tightened up and the Spartans started getting sloppy. A Tre Holloman charge was the beginning of a set of mistakes that turned their lead into a tight game. The mistakes were primarily on the offensive end and opened up transition opportunities for UNC.
The offense that started so hot went absolutely cold over the final 7-minutes of the half. UNC went on a 17-0 run, and pushed that out to more than twenty points in a row between MSU field goals. It was partly UNC finding holes in the MSU defense but it was largely the MSU offense going cold and missing rebounds that sent UNC running to the lead.
The Spartan offense reignited in the second half. Jaden Akins answered back to back UNC three pointers with two threes of his own. The offense was back to sharing the ball and pressing the pace. They were also chasing rebounds and getting second chance shots. It looked like the energy Michigan State played the first 13 minutes of the game with, not the malaise it finished the first half in.
The confounding part of watching the Spartans was how many times they were simply getting rejected at the rim. It wasn’t just Bacot, it felt like the entire lineup for UNC was rejecting shots at the rim. It happened in the half court and in transition. Seven blocks before the midway point in the second half is simply ridiculous, and a major factor in the Spartans offense struggling to keep up with UNC.
Tre Holloman had another poor offensive stretch in a key moment. In the first round game it was two terrible lobs to Coen Carr that resulted in turnovers. In this game it was an awkward lob to Xavier Booker and a clear over dribble situation where he threw the ball out of bounds (again a missed connection with Booker). Holloman played some solid defense in this game, but that stretch hurt.
The Spartans offense went cold heading into the last 9 minutes. Almost exactly at the time it went cold in the first half, Michigan State was simply unable to generate baskets. Just before the four minute media timeout, Tyson Walker had a massive airballed three pointer and AJ Hoggard continued to play one of his worst games in recent memory (he was 1/10 after missing a layup at the rim). It felt like the fight going out of the team.
Down the stretch Michigan State couldn’t muster much offense. Tyson Walker contributed 24 hard earned points. Malik Hall had a solid showing with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Jaden Akins chipped in 11, hitting some timely shots and missing a few key ones. Beyond that though there was simply no offense to be found.
The bench combined for 14 points. That was enough against some teams this year (and would have been welcome in some others) but it was not going to be enough against a high powered offense like UNC’s.
The real problem offensively was a familiar name: AJ Hoggard. The senior point guard played badly. There is no nice way to say it. His three points on 1-10 shooting doomed any hope that MSU could generate enough offense to keep pace with UNC.
The team gets more than a failing grade because of Tyson and Hall (as well a little credit for Akins). Still it was the offense that lost this game.
Offensive Grade: C-
Defense:
UNC started the game going to its big advantage: Armando Bacot. On the first possession Bacot all too easily scored over Carson Cooper. On the second, Bacot took a high hand off and committed a charge against Cooper. MSU has benefited from other teams’ stars getting into early foul trouble of late. Getting fouls on Bacot was the ideal start for the Spartans.
Michigan State’s defense was well above average, but their rebounding was truly impressive in the early going. UNC was simply not getting second chance points in the early going. By the time MSU had built a 28-20 lead they had outrebounded UNC by 8 (14-6).
UNC was able to claw back into the game by exploiting Bacot’s advantage over Carson Cooper. The Sophomore was out of position a few times and simply not fast enough to keep up with Bacot.
Once the Spartans could somewhat corral Bacot, the three point line opened up for UNC. The energy Michigan State showed when they were pouring in offense disappeared. The body language changed for the Spartans and the hunger for rebounds (the rare moments UNC missed a shot) fell off substantially. This turn of events was driven by the offensive slump that sapped the defensive fight as well.
UNC started the second half still hot from three. The Spartans were so concerned with double teaming Bacot it kept leaving three point shooters wide open. Particularly AJ Hoggard looked totally uninterested in closing out on three point shooters. It was particularly apparent on one replay that showed Malik Hall shifting over to be the double team on Bacot and Hoggard still pulled off a shooter to drift vaguely towards Bacot. The Tar Heels were making the Spartans pay for that lack of discipline.
Michigan State was fighting hard midway through the second half but the stops remained elusive. Too many times Hoggard got caught off three point shooters. It was also clear that the lineup with Xavier Booker at the five was not as good on the boards. Booker added a lot to this game, but when he was on the floor alone (i.e. without Kohler or Sissoko), UNC was all too easily getting second chance points near the rim.
Like the first half, when MSU’s offense hit a cold stretch their defense followed suit. UNC was able to get points at the rim and continued to fire threes. The stretch blew the UNC lead out to 69-57.
From that point forward, Michigan State simply could not keep up. Carson Cooper got exposed on defense. He was a liability for much of the game, and he was on the floor when UNC truly took control of this game.
Xavier Booker played a generally good game for a freshman, but he also showed how far he has to go as a defensive center. Michigan State seemed to decide it needed his offense more than it was worried about his defense. But after some good showings in recent games, Booker went back to being pushed around by UNC’s front court. It was an untimely regression – particularly late in the game.
In the end though it wasn’t UNC’s front court that made the Spartans pay. The Spartans held Bacot to 18 points and only 7 rebounds. That was not the dominant performance many expected. The Spartans get credit for breaking Bacot’s string of double doubles. The problems were elsewhere in this game.
Harrison Ingram went nuts from three, not from two. RJ Davis (20 points) and Cormac Ryan (14 points) combined for five three pointers and did that work against Michigan State’s guards. The Spartans weakness this season has been its front court. It was let down defensively in its final outing by its guards.
Defensive Grade: C-
Transition:
The early speed of play made it feel like this was a transition game, but both teams were getting back on defense. Both teams are taught to push the pace so this was as expected. The first real impact of true transition was UNC hitting a transition three and MSU pushing the ball right back and Coen Carr drawing a foul on his way to the basket. That three showed how dangerous UNC can be, but the push to Coen Carr demonstrated this team was going to fight back.
The Spartans offense going cold, opened up some early offensive opportunities for the Tar Heels. They were able to push the ball on the Spartans and set up for early shots Michigan State defenders were simply not in position to defend. It fueled a run that put UNC in the lead with just over 3 minutes left in the half.
Tyson Walker showed his all around game forcing multiple turnovers in a key stretch in the second half. One was a dead ball turnover, the next was a strip that led to a run out layup. His value for this team is felt in all facets of the game.
In the end though, Michigan State was not able to get anything seriously going in transition. Even with Tre Holloman and Walker harassing ball handlers, UNC was simply too disciplined to let the Spartans start running.
Transition Grade: C
Coaching:
Michigan State came out with fight. They kept this game close with an aggressive and fast paced offense and a gang rebounding focused defense. That was a credit to Coach Izzo and his staff. Early on, Izzo was bringing in what has evolved into a relatively deep bench and kept the team running.
The lineups for Michigan State initially looked good for the game. Late in the game the same “searching for answers” tendency showed up. Despite Mady Sissoko looking like the best center for stretches in the first half, he really didn’t play much in the second half.
Carson Cooper was on the floor for the true turning point in the game. His inability to keep up with Bacot was apparent throughout. His presence on the floor as UNC pushed the lead out to twelve was surprising, and it cost the Spartans. Cooper was bracketed by two runs for Xavier Booker. Booker at least added on the offensive end, but both Booker and Cooper were repeatedly exposed on defense.
There may not have been lineups that would counter MSU’s cold stretches, but the defensive alignment was definitely suspect. The limited use of Mady Sissoko in particular was surprising.
Michigan State struggled because AJ Hoggard struggled. His backup Tre Holloman also found some new ways to struggle. In a game where your floor leaders are playing this poorly, it can be hard for any strategy to save the team.
Coach Izzo gets credit for having his team ready to play and in position to win this game until the final 6-minutes. Some end of game lineup decisions though raise questions that should be asked. It also lowers the coaching grade.
Coaching Grade: B
Overall:
The Spartans showed what made them a potentially very good team this year and showed what made them the maddeningly poor product fans are tired of this year. The opening 12 minutes of the game were some of the best play this team has put together all year. From that point forward though they struggled.
The veterans on this team let offensive struggles impact their defense. Letting UNC go on a more than 20 point run to flip the advantage of the game from a 12 point MSU lead to a 9-point deficit at the half was beyond disappointing. These players have been through too much and have too much talent to let that type of effort issue lose them the game.
AJ Hoggard will (and should) get a lot of the heat for this game. This team though showed it might have had the talent to overcome that against a top tier team.
Tyson Walker and Malik Hall played excellent all around games. As a team Michigan State still out rebounded UNC. Despite Hoggard going 1 for 10, the team still shot almost 45% from the floor. After a year where the front court struggled in a multitude of ways, they actually played a decent game (arguably except for Carson Cooper). Xavier Booker played some quality minutes and flashed some moves that will have everyone excited for him (again) next year.
All of those positives are overshadowed by a veteran team that collapsed for a key stretch in the first half. After fighting back in the early second half, they repeated their first half collapse.
This team did not have the offense, nor the consistency to sustain themself. That ending was a microcosm of the season.
Overall Grade: C+