The Spartans were dominated in transition while missing free throws and three pointers in the second half. This loss hurts Michigan State.
Michigan State allowed Iowa to come into their house and punk them. At one point the Hawkeyes built a 16-point lead behind an aggressive cutting offense and timely defense. Their transition offense absolutely ran Michigan State into the ground.
The grades are not pretty in this unacceptable loss.
Details of the Curve for this Game: Iowa is a team that is better than its record, but still not great. They put pressure on teams by running the ball and getting fast offense in transition. Their offense is one of the highest scoring in the conference but their defense can struggle. This matchup should have favored Michigan State but the curve for the game is going to be about flat.
Offense:
Michigan State started cold and a little forced. Malik Hall had a good move to a miss. Tyson Walker missed early and AJ Hoggard had a rushed pass that became a turnover. Interestingly, the Spartans went true post offense more in the first three minutes of action then they do in most entire games. Both Sissoko and Carson Cooper were given traditional feeds to post up moves. They clearly had the green light to attack Iowa’s big man Owen Freeman. While Freeman was making MSU pay by scoring, he was being targeted on defense. Unfortunately, neither Sissoko nor Cooper could convert. In the positive, the action under the basket did cause Owen to pick up two early fouls.
AJ Hoggard calmed down and started directing traffic. Some quick passing led to a great Tyson Walker three. A play later, more ball movement led to a wide open three for Malik Hall. Adding to the deep shot party, Walker avoided a near steal and exploited his defender being behind him and stepped into another wide open three. All three deep shots were in rhythm and more importantly the first two were created by Hoggard’s strong direction on the court.
Coming out of the first break, Iowa rolled out a zone defense to slow down MSU. Initially, that did not work as Tre Holloman stepped into a long three and made the Spartans 4-4 from deep. After that, the zone worked a bit better. A lineup of Holloman, Walker, Carr, Kohler and Cooper may not be the best at busting a zone. Particularly with Kohler playing the five and Cooper the four (an interesting lineup choice, even if odd). The Spartans were slowed a bit but still fought through it. Coen Carr particularly flashed a few great cuts to the basket and was rewarded for his work with an and-1 before the 12-minute media timeout.
Kohler had one of his best offensive moves of the year around halfway through the first half. He took the ball deep, dribbled for better position and spun out before banking a shot off the glass. It technically came against Iowa’s third string center, but it was at the right speed. Something Kohler has struggled with since returning as he has missing shots playing too fast.
The Spartans were in this game because of their three point shooting. The team had taken more threes in the first 12-minutes of the game then they have in some entire games this year. They were also lights out, going 5 for 7.
The odd thing is this is counter to how MSU has been winning games of late. The Spartans have dominated the paint with drives and scoring by Malik Hall. Hall had minimal early post offense and the guards were not able to drive. Considering Iowa was playing with both centers either on the bench or on the floor in foul trouble it was an odd start offensively.
The problem with relying on the three showed itself pretty quickly. When MSU stopped hitting literally every single three it took the offense stagnated. Even with the commitment to going to the post, MSU simply could not convert shots despite Iowa playing most of the half without their two centers.
The offensive dysfunction was most apparent in a nearly invisible Malik Hall and an AJ Hoggard who was putting in maximum effort but getting the results of an out of their depth first year player. MSU might have struggled to keep pace if all their veterans were playing well. Considering those two were essentially playing terrible or non-existent left MSU choking on Iowa’s dust most of the first half.
The offense got a bit of traction midway through the second half. As the defense effort slowed Iowa, the Spartans were finally able to put some points on the board. Unfortunately, the poor finishing at the rim kept them from truly closing the gap. MSU had the opportunity to cut the lead to four and missed three shots at the rim in a row. All three shots were rebounded by Iowa and the lead went back out to 10 for the Hawkeyes.
The Spartans found another gasp at life following Malik Hall offense and Tyson Walker taking over a bit. Both were helped by a solid game by Jaxon Kohler, but the two fifth year players looked like leaders willing their team to a win.
Unfortunately they couldn’t sustain it. Even with AJ Hoggard hitting a nice corner three off a feed from Hall, the offense simply ran out of steam again. Every time the Spartans did that, they would start giving up transition opportunities that allowed Iowa to re-extend their lead. The lack of offensive rebounding in the game was crippling.
Coming out of a called timeout around the 4-minute mark, MSU found another small burst of offense using a small lineup. Playing with Hall at the five, the Spartans were able to create motion that left cutters open under the basket. The approach closed the lead to 5 with two and a half minutes left.
From there, the Spartans had nothing left. AJ Hoggard forced a wild drive and missed. He nearly redeemed himself with a nice tap out to Hall. Unfortunately, Hall drove and tried to dump off to Cason Cooper who mishandled the ball out of bounds. That was the last gasp for the Spartans offense.
On paper, the Spartan offense did some good things. They shot 50% from three but essentially could not hit a three in the second half. They assisted on 20 of 27 made shots which is great. Both of those numbers would have been higher if the Spartans could make layups. In the first 24-minutes of game play, Michigan State missed 7 layups. Down the stretch they at least missed four more.
The missed layups combined with 7 missed free throws (Carr, Booker and Kohler combined to miss the front end of 4 1-and-1 situations) was the difference in the game. The struggles at the rim were even more inconceivable considering Iowa’s centers played less than half the game.
This was one of those offensive performances that looked decent on paper but the eye test revealed the dysfunction.
Offensive Grade: C
Defense:
Michigan State’s defense started locked in with one huge weakness: post defense. Owen Freeman, a very talented freshman center for Iowa looked better than either of the Spartans true big men. He drew a foul on Mady Sissoko after a crossover move that showed a huge advantage in athleticism. The next possession he simply outmaneuvered Carson Cooper.
It looked like a saving grace for MSU that Freeman picked up two fouls in the first three minutes (to match Sissoko’s two fouls in the same period).
After Freeman left, Iowa still found ways to score in the paint. It looked like Iowa was trying to copy Michigan State’ recent approach of using motion and cutting to get buckets at the rim from non-big men. It gave Iowa the lead at the 8-minute mark 24-21. Not a good showing for Michigan State’s defense to that point.
The Spartans defense simply could not stop Iowa early on. Yes, Iowa’s offense came in transition and early shots – all helped by the Spartans offense grinding to an absolute halt – but Michigan State couldn’t get a stop when they needed one. The onslaught led to a 10-0 run that gave Iowa a 7-point lead, that soon ballooned to an 11-point lead.
While Iowa’s bigs were in foul trouble, both Cooper and Sissoko were in foul trouble as they continually were shown to lack the athleticism to stay in front of driving Hawkeyes. It led to a lot of offense at the rim for the Hawkeyes despite being undersized.
Iowa added in a few timely threes to go along with high percentage shooting in the first half (near 60%) and tallied up an impressive 45-points in the first half. That was one of the highest point totals for an opposing team in the first half against the Spartans this year. It showed a true lack of defensive grit as the Spartans simply got out hustled consistently.
Iowa dominated coming out of the break. They started with a 12-point lead and then went to Owen Freeman on back to back possessions and extended the lead to 16-points. Mady Sissoko looked completely overmatched. In his defense, he wasn’t the only Spartan defender that looked overmatched.
The Spartans finally started to get some stops and slow Iowa down about five minutes into the second half. It helped that Iowa started to cool off a bit in their shooting percentage. For one stretch, Michigan State held Iowa scoreless for more than three minutes. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t do much in that stretch.
A couple minutes later, MSU again stalled Iowa’s offense and finally got some help from their offense. A surprising defensive power during this stretch was Jaxon Kohler. On back to back plays he blocked shots that led to MSU possessions.
Kohler tired after playing one of his longest stretches of the year. He slowed down and Iowa exploited him on both ends of the court.
In the end, MSU technically held Iowa below their season average but not by much. Allowing Iowa to score 45 points in the first half and missing rebound after rebound left Michigan State with little opportunity to win. Down the stretch, Iowa had answers every time the Spartans offense showed signs of life. The Spartans defense by contrast had no answers when they needed it.
Defense Grade: C-
Transition:
Transition was going to be a huge factor in this game. Iowa scores more in transition than any team in the Big Ten. When the Spartans are rolling, they can take over a game with their transition. This meant the early going had everyone sprinting full speed.
AJ Hoggard looked a little over-hyped in transition and had a bad early turnover. And defensively, MSU was a little too soft in early action defense.
Iowa owned transition in the first half. They used it to speed up the Spartans on both ends of the court, and were able to convert sloppy play by Michigan State into quick points. Michigan State looked flummoxed by the combination of full court pressure and Iowa’s quick offense. AJ Hoggard in particular looked like he was pressing too hard and made mistake after mistake trying to do too much.
Iowa started using transition offense to counter Michigan State attempts at runs. In what looked like classic Michigan State strategy, every time MSU scored to cut the lead to single digits, Iowa would push the ball up fast to their point guard Perkins who barreled to the basket. MSU’s bigs were too slow to prevent Perkins getting good looks and often drawing a foul.
Jaxon Kohler got beaten a number of times in early offense and was eventually pulled from the game. In the end Iowa’s speed down the floor consistently was too much for the Spartans.
Transition Grade: D
Coaching:
Izzo had a few clear early priorities: push the pace of the game and draw fouls on Iowa’s Owen Freeman. The pace initially left MSU a little frenetic and sloppy. In contrast, the approach against Freeman worked as the freshman center for the Hawkeyes picked up two fouls in about three minutes. That was an early win for Izzo.
Rotation wise, Izzo seems to be settling into some key elements: Cooper comes off the bench before the 17-minute mark. After that Holloman and Kohler come in for Hoggard and Hall (respectively) around the first media timeout. Because of the late timeout, Carr also came in out of the first break around the 14:30 mark. This was an early commitment to depth. Izzo played 9 players in less than 6-minutes. None of them were Xavier Booker, but the commitment to rotating in players was clear. Smart in a game that could be a track meet up and down the floor.
Izzo initially looked to have the foul advantage as both of Iowa’s big men were in foul trouble very early. All too quickly that advantage disappeared as both Sissoko and Cooper ended up with two fouls. Kohler started fouling as well. This forced Izzo to put Booker on the floor for a second stint in the first half. It was a rare matchup that should have benefited Booker. The freshman was on the floor with no opposing big man to expose his lack of physical strength. Booker didn’t get exposed, he also didn’t add a huge amount.
Izzo looked like he had a good strategy in the first half that was undermined by poor execution. AJ Hoggard looked like a player struggling to find himself and Malik Hall was doing his disappearing act (only three shots in the first half). All the strategy in the world can’t fix a team where the players simply aren’t converting shots nor staying in front of their man on defense.
In the second half, the first adjustment Izzo made was using Kohler on Owen Freeman. Freeman made Sissoko look bad on two straight possessions. First off the bench was Jaxon Kohler rather than Cooper. It was a short assignment as the Spartans targeted Freeman on offense and quickly drew two more fouls on the freshman big man, sending him to the bench very early just like the first half.
Izzo tried to shorten his bench in the second half to mostly Jaxon Kohler and Tre Holloman. Kohler simply couldn’t hold up with those minutes. Worse, Kohler’s offense is almost entirely missed shots at the rim. This was an affliction that impacted the entire team in this game.
For a very brief run, MSU tried to go small. They had Hall at the five with Hoggard, Walker, Holloman and Akins. It sparked a mini-run that closed the gap to five with two and a half minutes left. It also prompted Iowa’s coach Fran McCaffery to bring Owen Freeman back on the floor.
The idea to go small was a good one but most likely should have occurred earlier. Iowa played small essentially the entire second half. Cooper and Sissoko were effectively side lined by that approach and Jaxon Kohler was over played. For a team that had few answers on defense and offense, Izzo not trying this tactic earlier felt like a true mistake.
In the end, Izzo could not leverage Iowa losing both of its centers for the majority of the game. That’s not acceptable.
Coaching Grade: D
Overall:
The Spartans simply got beat in this game. There was not a single phase of the game (including coaching) where Michigan State held an advantage in this game. The outcome may look decent close, and the numbers on paper may look ok, but this was nothing short of a dysfunctional loss.
The inability of this team to take advantage of Iowa losing its starting and backup center to foul trouble is hard to comprehend.
Sissoko looked awful and played just five minutes (initially because of fouls but in the second half primarily by coach’s decision).
Cooper also looked overmatched. He didn’t have the speed, nor athleticism to keep up on defense. On offense he ended at least three possessions because he couldn’t hold onto the ball and go up strong. For most of his time on the court, the next tallest guy he faced was three to four inches shorter than him. The lack of production was unacceptable.
Jaxon Kohler played some quality stretches and showed he is clearly the most athletic big man they have (Booker may be more athletic in raw talent, but Kohler is much stronger). Yet he tired under the pressure of playing 19-minutes and Iowa was able to exploit him on defense.
When your three big men are this huge of a liability there is no way to win.
Overall Grade: C-