Kansas Game Recap (3/27/09)
Posted by kj on Saturday, March 28th, 2009
The Spartans claw their way past the Jayhawks 67-62 in a 66-possession game. StatSheet box score.
It’s 1:49 in the a.m. as I begin this game recap. So what I write below may or may not be coherent.
Further, from my seat in section 242 of Lucas Oil Stadium, this game much more as an emotional experience than it was an analytical experience.
And, even if one tried to systematically analyze this game, where would you start? This four-factor graph makes no sense whatsoever to me:
Instead, I give you a dozen random bullets:
- Kalin Lucas could not be any more clutch. 18 points, 7-7 FG shooting, 7 assists, 4 steals.
- Goran Suton scored 20 points tonight (to go with 9 rebounds and 5 steals), and he didn’t even really look completely on his game.
- Draymond Green just keeps getting better. He played the fifth most minutes (21) of any Spartan tonight, believe it or not.
- Durrell Summers showed up: 9 key points and 5 big rebounds
- 11-19 assist-turnover ratio for Kansas. That caught up with them in the end. As good as Sherron Collins (20 points on 9-13 FG shooting) and Cole Aldrich (17 points, 14 rebounds) were, they combined for 10 of those turnovers.
- What was Tom Izzo thinking putting Raymar Morgan back in the game with 2 minutes left, after sitting him for almost all of the second half? (Apparently something happened to his nose?) Regardless, it worked, as he dunked the ball off a pass from Lucas on the first play he was back in.
- 16-17 FT shooting for the team. Huge. Miss a couple of those and the game is out of reach in the final few minutes.
- Key play most people won’t be talking about tomorrow: Durrell Summers scoring on the sequence when we got like 3 offensive rebounds but couldn’t get the ball to go in. If Summers doesn’t finally score, Kansas is up 5 with the ball and only 3 minutes left.
- Gotta love Idong Ibok trying to inbound the ball off an MSU made free throw. He still looks nothing at all like a basketball player, but he’s an awfully nice luxury to have in a game like this one.
- Pretty good MSU contingent down here–although not as big a numbers advantage over the Kansas contingent as I expected. Arena was 75% Cardinal red. Sunday’s game will effectively be a road game.
This was a pretty ugly win. I’m disappointed the team came out looking so tight–Raymar Morgan, in particular. But, consistent with the resilience they’ve shown all year, they never caved in to their own failures. I think I’m correct in saying that this team still has yet to lose a game that’s within a single possession with 2-3 minutes to go.
I think it’s safe to say that Louisville isn’t shaking in its boots right now. We’re going to have to play much better than we did tonight, and the Cardinals are going to have to play considerably worse than they did tonight, for us to have a chance on Sunday (2:20 tip-off). Two things Arizona did that I don’t expect us to, though: (1) Play a zone defense that gives Louisville two dozen clean 3-point looks and (2) fail to attack the full court press for easy baskets.
Tom Izzo, master short-timeframe game planner, has his work cut out for him: get the team prepared for both a full court press and a half court zone in a period of 38 hours.
That’s all for now. I’ll get some sort of game preview up tomorrow for Sunday’s game, but I’m not sure exactly when.
GO STATE! ELITE EIGHT!
Filed in game recap13 responses so far
13 Responses to “Kansas Game Recap (3/27/09)”
Adamon 28 Mar 2009 at 3:24 am 1I don’t want Louisville shaking in its boots. I want them comfortable, expecting to blow us out like we’re Arizona (a team that arguably shouldn’t even have made the tourney). I want them thinking we’re a poor man’s UNC, with our poor man’s Hansbrough (Suton) and our poor man’s Lawson (Lucas).
You can predict anything you want, but the Cardinals aren’t going to hang a hundred on us. We’re the real thing. They have to go from a 12 to a 2.
I hope they’re ready for the culture shock.
Adamon 28 Mar 2009 at 3:40 am 2Two more things I wanted to say. I wish you guys could have been walking campus (okay, not campus, but the MAC/Grand River bar route) after the game. It was awesome. The cops were out on horseback, and everyone was very happy.
The other thing I wanted to say was, the only free throw we missed ended up being an extra possession for us (and led directly to Morgan’s game-tying slam with 1:44 to go). I almost feel like Summers did it on purpose.
Also, I love this school. I’m so proud to be a Spartan, even though I’m graduating. And I’m so proud of this team. They have yet to let me down in the final minutes when the game is seemingly a coin toss. GO GREEN!
danon 28 Mar 2009 at 8:25 am 3I haven’t been that tense during a basketball game since ‘00 during the Iowa State game. I was pacing back and forth… nervous… anxious… tense. It was aweful!
This group is a really clutch group of guys. They don’t have the mental concentration to dominate a game the whole way through yet, but they do know how to finish. If these sophomores stay around, I think the sky is the limit for them!
BTW – I think Chris Allen is playing really well in the tourney; not spectacular but solid. He’s played good D, hasn’t been a TO machine, and his presence is forcing the other team to respect his shooting. That gives me hope for next season, as well as for tomorrow!
Chrison 28 Mar 2009 at 9:23 am 4Solid recap kj considering it was almost 2 am. I thought you would forget about Summers put back at the end to cut the lead to 3. Good thing Suton trims his finger nails or we could have been in even bigger trouble. Officiating was terrible for both sides. I wanted to jump through my plasma and choke the ref that called the tripping at the end. Also, what was up with Gus Johnson last night? I lost a lot of respect for him last night. To start rumors about Izzo being under appreciated was completely unprofessional. This team is a less talented version of the 2000 team. The past 2 games were very similar to the sweet sixteen, elite eight games in 2000. Both teams have (had) the onions to win close games and refuse to lose. Regardless of what happens on Sunday this season has been a great success.
Chrison 28 Mar 2009 at 9:46 am 5A few more thoughts.. Izzo called some masterful plays out of time outs. Whatever halftime adjustments he made also worked considering we only had a few turnovers in the 2nd half. Remember when we were talking about Raymar going pro early after his freshman season? That seams like decades ago. He has to have a double double on Sunday for us to have a chance. Everyone is talking about Louisville being a terrible match up because they force turnovers. Thoses are forced using a press which we usually do a good job with, giving us some open looks. Watch for Louisville to tone down their press and maybe use some zone.
kjon 28 Mar 2009 at 10:25 am 6Izzo said he was going to ask Ibok if he thought the Spartans were playing “make it, take it.”
http://www.statenews.com/index.....loose_ends
That’s funny.
Breakdown of Lucas’s go-ahead basket:
http://coachingbetterbball.blo.....kalin.html
Daveon 28 Mar 2009 at 10:59 am 7Yeah, the crowd was overwhelmingly Cards fans. I was surrounded by red. Many of them made disparaging comments about our anemic offense throughout the game. Needless to say they are not at all worried about Sunday’s game. Hopefully some of this overconfidence will carry over to the Louisville team.
Kurton 28 Mar 2009 at 11:59 am 8Re: the Izzo feels disrespected comment
I couldn’t believe it when Johnson said that. Izzo feels like he isn’t appreciated around campus? PSSSSH! Either someone was blowing smoke up Johnson’s wazoo or he flat out made that up. That would be so out of character for Izzo. But that’s what happens when national media talk about anything. They just appear clueless.
UncleLaron 28 Mar 2009 at 12:00 pm 9Forgive me for bringing this up, but we’re kind of proud of this win.
Your comment “I think I’m correct in saying that this team still has yet to lose a game that’s within a single possession with 2-3 minutes to go” made me go check the box scores.
When Penn State visited East Lansing, MSU closed to within three at the 1:52 mark, two at 30 seconds, then just one with 12 seconds left. When Andrew Jones only converted 1 of 2 foul shots, Kalin Lucas had the ball in hand with a chance to tie or win with 11 seconds left, but he missed a jumper.
Sorry about bringing back that memory but good luck tomorrow.
Mark in DCon 28 Mar 2009 at 1:21 pm 10We have been pretty clutch in close games. I think Morgan just is not back in basketball shape yet. He missed a lot of time and lost a lot of weight – undoubtedly some of it muscle mass.
Two keys to winning the turnover battle in the second half – Lucious and Morgan were sitting for pretty much all of it and they were primary culprits on the turnover front. Lucious has a habit of driving and then no-look passing to where he thinks an MSU player should be, only it is straight to an opposing player. He has to keep the dribble alive then he’s down around the foul line so he can back it back out himself. When he picks it up there they double team him, he panics, and throws it away.
The officiating was terrible at the end of the game. Two ticky tack fouls on us and I think one before that on them. It was like they thought we were fouling on purpose there at the end. I don’t know what they saw on that last foul on Collins where (thankfully) he missed the front end. It worked out for us but the refs should not have that much impact on the end of a game.
Benon 28 Mar 2009 at 6:15 pm 11So, does anyone know what happened to Delvon Roe? He played barely, if at all, in the second half.
kjon 28 Mar 2009 at 11:20 pm 12UncleLar,
You’ve got me on a technicality there. Truth be told, your boys were up on us pretty big with several minutes to go. Only a series of missed FTs let us back into it. So I view that game a little differently; it wasn’t a back-and-forth single-possession game down the stretch.
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