" title="Spartans Weblog">Spartans Weblog

The Spartans prevail 66-60 (only one point off from kenpom’s 65-60 prediction!).  And we’ll take it.  Looked like a blowout for MSU early before Ohio State caught fire on either side of halftime.  The comeback by Ohio State didn’t bother me as much as it might have.  It was fueled mainly by members of the Buckeye supporting cast hitting some tough shots.  And it didn’t involve an inordinate number of Spartan turnovers.  Ultimately, MSU showed the gumption to score enough points against a good defensive team down the stretch to win fairly comfortably.

Hard to capsulize this game given how much the play varied over the game.  Here’s what the box score says were the keys to Spartan victory:

• We made enough 3-pointers to keep the 2-3 zone honest.  7 for 19 (36.8%).  And four of those were of the non-Neitzel variety: two each for Allen and Lucas.
• It turned out to be MSU who forced Ohio State into taking tough 3-point looks, rather than vice versa.  22 of Ohio State’s 54 FG attempts (40.7%).  The Buckeyes made only 6 of those 22 attempts (27.3%).
• Only 11 turnovers for MSU in a 65-possession game (16.9%).  The ball handling seemed a bit shaky all night, but they managed to keep the handle on it in most cases.
• MSU stepped it back up on the offensive glass: 20 offensive rebounds in 45 opportunities (44.4%).  Durrell Summers contributed 6 of those offensive rebounds in just 12 minutes.
• MSU was also very good on the defensive boards: 26 of 32 (81.3%).
• Drew Naymick for player of the game.  11 points on 5-6 FG shooting.  And they all seemed like they were key shots to keep the momentum from swinging further in the Buckeyes’ favor.  Two more blocked shots to boot, extending his own career record.

Jamar Butler is a heckuva player.  I thought MSU defended him as well as they could have, forcing other players to make shots for most of the game.  Yet he still finished with 21 points on just 11 FG attempts–plus 7 assists vs. 2 turnovers.  As much as I think the media is overhyping Neitzel’s struggles, I’d have to give the second all-conference guard spot (next to Gordon) to Butler at this point.

Tough night for Morgan: Just 6 points in 19 foul-plagued minutes.  The fourth foul was clearly a bad call.  The contact was clearly initiated by the Buckeye player (Lighty?) who then stumbled into Morgan.  Credit Morgan for creating the 3-point play, though, to extend the lead to 9 with 3 minutes left and effectively end Ohio State’s hopes of a late comeback.

Tonight’s gripe: Izzo played all three point guards in the last several minutes.  I have no problem with this.  Walton’s big and strong enough to guard a wing/forward and make the alignment work on defense.  But on offense, the ball needs to be in Lucas’ hands, not Walton’s.  Walton is the least dangerous player of the three on offense (particularly tonight, when he went 0-7 from the floor).  When the clock starts running down, the odds of creating a quality shot with the ball in his hands are exceedingly low.  Lucas can penetrate to create for other players and his odds of hitting a pull-up jump shot are considerably higher.

Continuing gripe: The adventures with inbounding the ball.  With a minute or two left in the first half, Izzo called timeout to set up a play.  Following the timeout, MSU threw the ball to an Ohio State player, who happened to be streaking toward his own basket.  The ball was delivered so nicely to the Buckeye player, I’m pretty sure Musburger and Lavin thought Ohio State had inbounded the ball.

On to Minneapolis to play the Gophers on Sunday (4:00; BTN).  Gut-check time.