1. The MSU backcourt we saw on Thursday could take the Spartans' spots
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Just when you get the idea that the Michigan State basketball team won't be far behind in March, they bring you back with a performance like this.
The Michigan State backcourt we saw Thursday afternoon could beat some people down. Maybe even North Carolina. They will likely get their chance on Saturday after dominating a 69-51 win over Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Here's the combined line of Tyson Walker, Jaden Akins, and AJ Hoggard: 42 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, five turnovers, five steals.
There's an old saying among coaches that I've repeated many times and would understand if I stopped reading: To get anywhere in tournament play, you have to have three players rolling.
I am a firm believer in this. One of the things that makes the Spartans somewhat dangerous in the postseason is that they have four (maybe five) players capable of starting. One problem this season is that they often haven't hit two goals, let alone three.
When MSU gets what it did from Akins on Thursday — 15 points, 6 of 14 shooting, three 3s, seven rebounds, a block and a steal — and Hoggard controls the game that way — with eight points, eight assists, five turnovers and a steal, it's a stat line that doesn't… Does justice to his ground game – the Spartans are very likely to have three guys at the level that can take them to their spots.
Especially when they get 13 rebounds from the center position, including nine from Maddie Sissoko, who seems determined not to end his MSU career on the bench.
I think Hoggard is made for this tournament. We've seen that now for a few seasons. He is more focused than ever in these matches and that is his problem sometimes. The key is to get Akins started early. He fired his first shot and then continued shooting. When he didn't shoot, Tom Izzo immediately told him to “shoot him.” His drive and dive over a defender in the second half spoke of a man who has regained his confidence.
The Spartans' backcourt was too much on both ends for a Mississippi State team that had no answer for MSU's gap-assist defense — as evidenced by Josh Hubbard going 1-for-9 in the second half — or the team's collective rebounding. MSU outrebounded the Bulldogs 35-29, with Tolu Smith getting just two.
MSU is still an imperfect team — even with the improvement of its big men late in the season, and even as Xavier Booker has become a useful player. The Spartans have no proven positives among their core. But they have a backcourt that, as we saw collectively Thursday, can be too much for some teams and gives MSU a chance against a lot of other teams.
Just gotta see him again on Saturday.
2. The NCAA Tournament style emerges for this type of MSU team
Just as Tom Izzo is known for his team's record in Game 2 of the NCAA Tournament on the weekend (24-7), perhaps he should also be known for what his program has done over the past decade as a seventh seed or worse in Game 1.
The ninth-seeded Spartans' win over No. 8 Mississippi State on Thursday was MSU's fifth straight win in that type of circumstance, not counting a play-in loss to UCLA in a COVID year. And even that was a good show all night.
MSU also dominated four of those five games — as a 7-seed against USC last season, as a 9-seed in defeating 8-seed Miami in 2017 and as a 7-seed against 10-seed Georgia in 2015, at the start of the Spartans' Final Four run. As a 7, they also narrowly beat Davidson two years ago.
These mid-ranked vs. mid-ranked matchups are always flawed team versus flawed team, but MSU either had fewer flaws or dialed in — both in focus and in game plan — to where the Spartans looked like the better team from the jump. It happened again on Thursday.
This was not the case earlier in Izzo's career. It can often be an adverb of correspondence. But now we've seen the same first-round matchup multiple times over the past decade.
3. Freshman Thoughts – Mississippi State NCAA Tournament Edition
Xavier Booker is still a plus star on MSU's staff. Played 11 minutes. The Spartans were plus-13 when he was on the floor. He's a plus player now. That's been clear for a while. His length, body control and improved strength were showcased with transition buckets around the defender, and under the basket on offense and defense, where his arms are everywhere, even if sometimes he's still in the right spot.
Five points and a rebound in 11 straight minutes, including a 3-pointer that helped separate the Spartans — two months ago, you would never have thought this is what Booker would contribute to an NCAA Tournament game.
Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
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