One down . . .
Posted by kj on Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Update: As a couple commenters noted, game time for Saturday is 9:10 p.m. Pulled that 2:00 time off the official NCAA website–you’d think that’d be a trustworthy source, wouldn’t you?
Michigan State advances past Temple, 72-61.
Unfortunately, a long day at work coincided with the start of the Big Dance today. I was able to watch the majority of the game, but much of it was without audio and all of it was on a TV the size of a dorm-room microwave oven. So the game recap will be of the box score-centered variety. Let’s see what the stats say about how MSU performed relative to the Spartans Weblog Keys to the Game.
On defense, I’ll say the key is to play active defense all game long to stay out on their three-point shooters. Hitting a lot of three-pointers is the most common way for an underdog to win in the NCAA Tournament. And Temple is a team that likes to shoot the three.
Check. The Spartans played solid perimeter defense throughout the game. Temple made just 6 of 23 three-point attempts (26.1%). Leading scorer Dionte Christmas went 0-8 from beyond the arc; a number of those shots he took over someone closely guarding him. Christmas finished with just 3 points. Tyndale was a bit more effective, leading the Owls with 16 points, but it took him 14 FG attempts and 6 FT attempts to do it.
On offense, the temptation is to say Morgan needs to take advantage of the size mismatch he should have for the entire game. But I’m afraid we’re past the point we can count on Morgan to be a key part of the offense in any given game; anything he brings needs to be gravy.
As it turns out, Morgan came up big. Apparently, he performs better when he doesn’t have the pressure of the Spartans Weblog Key to the Game weighing down on him. Morgan scored 15 points on 7-9 FG shooting. His jumpshot looked good and he used his size to score over the smaller Temple players on several occasions. In fact, the stats say MSU relied quite heavily on its size to win this game:
- The four big men (counting Morgan as a big man in this game) combined to shoot 15-21 from the field (71.4%).
- The four perimeter players, meanwhile, converted just 11 of 33 FG attempts (33.3%).
Of course, a number of those FG conversions by the big men were created by the guards going toward the basket (7 assists vs. 1 turnover for Lucas), so the FG numbers are a bit misleading in terms of where the offensive credit should go.
Instead, I’ll go with offensive rebounding. While MSU’s work on the offensive boards suffered a bit in Big Ten play, it’s still the shining jewel of their tempo-free profile. They rank 7th in the nation with an offensive rebounding % of 39.8%. Coming off the emotional loss to Wisconsin, it make take MSU some time to find their offensive rhythm. Getting some second chance points early in the game could help keep Temple out of striking distance for the upset.
MSU pulled down 10 offensive rebounds in 28 opportunities (35.7%)–a decent, but not dominant, effort. MSU converted 14 of 29 FG attempts in the first half vs. just 8 of 27 shooting for Temple, so scoring 2nd chance points early wasn’t critical.
All in all, it was a workmanlike effort by the Spartans. They held on the to the ball for the most part (12 TOs in 65 possessions = 18.4%). They didn’t let up on defense. And they hit their free throws down the stretch (16-18 for the game). They led comfortably for the most of the game on a day on which their star wasn’t hitting his shots (Neitzel finished 1-8 on three-point attempts).
Those of you who might have seen the game in a more sensory-comprehensive setting can chime in with your thoughts.
On to face Pittsburgh, which beat Oral Roberts 82-63 today. The game is scheduled for 2:00 on Saturday. The absence of Marquise Gray for all but 1 minute today due to a sprained toe didn’t hurt today, but may be a factor against Pitt’s offensive rebounders.
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Filed in game recap, michigan state basketball4 responses so far
4 Responses to “One down . . .”
mblemieuxon 21 Mar 2008 at 3:25 am 1Nice analysis. The defense was smothering. So much for the 12/5 upset that so many were predicting. Go State!
wifeofaspartanon 21 Mar 2008 at 6:01 am 2good to see team defense set the tone for the day and on offense it seemed like they were patient, waiting for and taking what unfolded. Something like 19 assists on 26 baskets i think.
Thought later during the game (about 5, 6 minute mark) that we were pulling out instead of layups breaking their press to run the clock. Had 2 turnovers in a row doing that, which could have allowed them back in if they scored on the next 2 possessions but the defense came through.
Sure hope Allen and Summers can keep their defense and Summers oh so efficient offense up. One thing is that all the tournament teams are good, winning teams so each victory is important regardless of seed.
I saw in Lansing State Journal that our game Sat is 9:10pm,
not 2? Maybe it got changed due to the great physical matchup of pitt vs msu.
back strong.
Spartalyticalon 21 Mar 2008 at 6:47 am 3The LSJ and WILX both said 9:10.
Great game yesterday, for the most part. It can’t be bad that everyone was involved in their own ways. Pitt looked pretty darn good too, however. Granted, it was against a less impressive team in Oral Roberts. Having seen Pitt play in the Big East tournament, they look pretty tough and physical. They looked particularly good against Georgetown. They play about nine deep as well, right? Having players back from injuries has them pretty well stocked.
witless chumon 21 Mar 2008 at 10:09 am 4The thing struck me, after mostly watching Big 10 games during the season, is that the A10 champs played very little defense. They actually rebounded better than the Spartans probably should have let them, but their defense was not much.
I hope playing in the same gym again will allow Neitzel to get his shot working against Pitt.