(By @Sam Tyler - TillTheBitterEnd)
The Spartans' win against New Mexico was the best of the season.
New Mexico played a terrific game -- competitive, tough-minded, and physical, generating solid shot-attempts against an outstanding defense.
New Mexico had the best post-player in the game, they got a scoring jolt from an unexpected place, and they held arguably Michigan State's best player to zero points until the last two minutes of the game.
Despite this performance -- driven by Richard Pitino's serious improvement as a coach over the last five seasons -- the Spartans simply found a way to win.
How did Izzo and the team do it?
Frankie Fidler played his best game as a Spartan scoring 10 crucial points, playing excellent ball on both ends (he should have had another three assists on plays where he created wide-open shots for guys who simply missed), making timely cuts, and aggressively taking shots that he was in a position to take.
Fidler's partner was fellow senior Jaden Akins, who attacked the rim consistently in transition and the half-court, and hit two three-point jumpers at crucial points in the contest: one early, to settle things for the Spartans, and one late to break a deadlocked game in the clutch.
Fears, Carr, Holloman, and Richardson (late in the game) all provided important contributions, and the defense on Dent was superb (14 points on 18 two-point field-goals); but it was Fidler and Akins who led the charge, as seniors tend to do in clutch tournament games.
Notably muted as contributors for the entire 80 minutes the Spartans played in Cleveland: the Spartan bigs.
While all three players had moments in the two contests, none of them can hang their hats on these performances. Turning around their postseasons and finding consistency on both ends will be crucial for Michigan State's fortunes this week both against Mississippi and in a potential matchup against Auburn or Michigan.
Mississippi presents a tantalizing match-up for neutral fans: a Tom Izzo vs Chris Beard rematch from the 2019 Final Four and two teams, playing well as cohesive units, with aggressive, athletic players who seek out and make plays.
From the Spartan perspective, however, this is a favorable match-up.
Mississippi is a very good team, but their weaknesses align nicely with the Spartans' strengths. Mississippi struggles on the glass (#314 in the nation on the offensive glass and #226 on the defensive glass), they foul a TON (#317 in opponent three-point rate), and they get a TON of shots blocked (#304 in the nation on offensive block rate -- i.e. other teams block them a LOT).
Conversely, Michigan State is the #24 team in the nation on the offensive glass, and the #8 team in the nation on defensive rebounding, #44 in the nation in offensive free-throw rate (making 77% of their free-throws on the season despite a few-game wobble from the line), and #45 in defensive block-rate.
So is this a clear-cut blow-out?
Probably not, because Mississippi is tough, defends pretty well, has good athletes, and they force turnovers (#33 in the nation). Against an undermanned Iowa State team (missing their best player in Keshon Gilbert due to injury), Mississippi forced a ton of turnovers and rode a collective hot-shooting performance (11-19 from three-point range, including multiple pull-up transition three-pointers) to upset a good team that just was not able to adapt to their major injury.
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The Spartans' win against New Mexico was the best of the season.
New Mexico played a terrific game -- competitive, tough-minded, and physical, generating solid shot-attempts against an outstanding defense.
New Mexico had the best post-player in the game, they got a scoring jolt from an unexpected place, and they held arguably Michigan State's best player to zero points until the last two minutes of the game.
Despite this performance -- driven by Richard Pitino's serious improvement as a coach over the last five seasons -- the Spartans simply found a way to win.
How did Izzo and the team do it?
Frankie Fidler played his best game as a Spartan scoring 10 crucial points, playing excellent ball on both ends (he should have had another three assists on plays where he created wide-open shots for guys who simply missed), making timely cuts, and aggressively taking shots that he was in a position to take.
Fidler's partner was fellow senior Jaden Akins, who attacked the rim consistently in transition and the half-court, and hit two three-point jumpers at crucial points in the contest: one early, to settle things for the Spartans, and one late to break a deadlocked game in the clutch.
Fears, Carr, Holloman, and Richardson (late in the game) all provided important contributions, and the defense on Dent was superb (14 points on 18 two-point field-goals); but it was Fidler and Akins who led the charge, as seniors tend to do in clutch tournament games.
Notably muted as contributors for the entire 80 minutes the Spartans played in Cleveland: the Spartan bigs.
While all three players had moments in the two contests, none of them can hang their hats on these performances. Turning around their postseasons and finding consistency on both ends will be crucial for Michigan State's fortunes this week both against Mississippi and in a potential matchup against Auburn or Michigan.
Mississippi presents a tantalizing match-up for neutral fans: a Tom Izzo vs Chris Beard rematch from the 2019 Final Four and two teams, playing well as cohesive units, with aggressive, athletic players who seek out and make plays.
From the Spartan perspective, however, this is a favorable match-up.
Mississippi is a very good team, but their weaknesses align nicely with the Spartans' strengths. Mississippi struggles on the glass (#314 in the nation on the offensive glass and #226 on the defensive glass), they foul a TON (#317 in opponent three-point rate), and they get a TON of shots blocked (#304 in the nation on offensive block rate -- i.e. other teams block them a LOT).
Conversely, Michigan State is the #24 team in the nation on the offensive glass, and the #8 team in the nation on defensive rebounding, #44 in the nation in offensive free-throw rate (making 77% of their free-throws on the season despite a few-game wobble from the line), and #45 in defensive block-rate.
So is this a clear-cut blow-out?
Probably not, because Mississippi is tough, defends pretty well, has good athletes, and they force turnovers (#33 in the nation). Against an undermanned Iowa State team (missing their best player in Keshon Gilbert due to injury), Mississippi forced a ton of turnovers and rode a collective hot-shooting performance (11-19 from three-point range, including multiple pull-up transition three-pointers) to upset a good team that just was not able to adapt to their major injury.
This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.
