The win streak is over at 13
On a Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, Michigan State put their perfect conference record on the line against the USC Trojans. In addition to the perfect record, the Spartans were attempting to earn Tom Izzo career Big Ten win #353, which would tie the record owned by Bob Knight from his years at Indiana.
Well, this game got off to about as bad of a start as possible for the Green & White. MSU had turnovers on their first two possessions, were scoreless in their first five offensive trips, and were trailing 11-4 at the first TV timeout. It did not get better after that, as the Trojans stretched their lead to as big as 15, 22-7, before MSU drew back to 22-11 at the 2nd commercial. After that, MSU slowly chipped away, getting within two of the lead in the final minutes of the first half and went to the locker room down 35-32.
Despite the comeback in the second part of the opening half, there was still a lot of ugly from our Spartans. Usually a bright spot, MSU missed four of 11 first half free throws. The team committed seven turnovers, three of them from Tre Holloman. The shots were not dropping the way we have come to expect, as MSU converted under 40% of their FGs in the 1st. And the defense, particularly the perimeter defense, and very particularly Jeremy Fears’ defense, was less than stellar. And yet, even with all those faults, MSU was very much in the game heading to the second half. They received scoring contributions from 9 of 10 players, with only the Kohler Bear staying off the scoreboard; Coen Carr led the way with seven, while Jase Richardson and Tre Holloman each had six, the latter on a pair of threes.
The second half got off to a fast start for both teams. While MSU’s offense was better here than it was at the beginning of the game, the defense was struggling. They were biting on pump fakes and putting USC on the line, and when they weren’t sending the Trojans to the line, they were just giving up FGs. They gave up another triple to allow USC to go up 8 at the under-16.
USC remained hot after the commercial, hitting two straight threes, their sixth and seventh of the game, to get their lead back to double digits. And on the other end, MSU could not buy a basket. It was a 55-45 USC lead at the under-12. The game was one point closer than it was at the same point of the first half, right when MSU began their push to get back in the contest.
Predictably, MSU got on a little run here. Fidler with the five fingers to put back an Akins miss. Carr gets taken out after takeoff and gets to the line, but he missed both. Akins drove the lane and scored in contact. Akins hit a corner three on a second chance opportunity. USC finally scored, but Richardson scored three seconds later. Then another USC basket and an offensive foul on Kohler. 59-54 USC at the under-8.
The Trojans went back up 7, but Akins responded immediately to get it back to 5. USC extended a possession with three offensive rebounds off missed threes before MSU finally put USC on the line, where they hit two. Fidler missed a triple try, but MSU forced a shot-clock violation immediately afterwards. After another empty trip, USC gifted us another missed triple. On our possession, Holloman missed a layup and Cooper lost the putback jam. USC responded by getting in the lane and making it a 9-point game. 65-56 with 3:30 to play.
In the final segment of regulation, Cooper opened the action with an alley-coop from Holloman. MSU forced a jump ball on defense and was awarded possession. Promptly, Cooper got called for a moving screen. Holloman got called for a foul and put Claude on the line; fortunately, Claude split the pair. Fears drew a shooting foul, and hit both FTs to get MSU within six. Fidler drew an offensive call with 1:46 in the game, and Fears got himself back to the line, but only made one to clip the lead down to 5.
After an MSU timeout, the Spartans got the stop. Akins missed an early three, but Fidler tracked down the rebound. Unbelievably, MSU would get called for a shot clock violation. With 39.3 seconds, USC hit a breakaway inbounds pass for an easy dunk. Carr then was called for stepping on the line, but MSU forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass. Nope. Overturned on review. Then a tipped inbounds pass, but then a five-second violation. So MSU gets it. Akins missed another triple, but USC got the rebound out of bounds. Holloman missed a corner three, but Akins was there to put back the miss. An immediate foul by MSU put Claude on the line with 10.3 seconds. He missed both, but USC got another offensive rebound, their tenth. Back on the line, USC’s Agee hit both for a seven-point lead. Fears got back to the line, and he can’t make FTs apparently.
USC gets the win, 70-64. They led the whole way and ended the streak. MSU did not have it today. I don’t feel like doing any lists. Better luck to us on Tuesday in Westwood.