The Spartans defeat the mini-Spartans in a rout: 85-45. I had the chance to watch this one in person–and it was the kind of game you want to see your team play against a patsy. MSU built a 15-point half time lead and didn’t let up–outscoring San Jose State by 25 in the second half. MSU played with suffocating defensive intensity throughout and converted the defensive effort into points on the fast break.
As their stats indicated coming in, San Jose State didn’t bring much to the table offensively. Justin Graham–he of the Pistol Pete-wannabe mop top–could create some if he got into the paint, but eventually the MSU defenders figured out he was going to go to the spin move most trips down the lane. And San Jose State didn’t have the scorers to take advantage of Graham’s passing ability. Eventually, San Jose State just lost the will to work on offense and started turning the ball over on what seemed like every other possession.
Izzo clearly wanted to use this game to build his team’s intensity going into the game against Texas on Saturday. With about two and a half minutes left, San Jose State scored several times down the court to get their point total over the hump of being more than half of MSU’s total. Izzo immediately called a timeout to get on his team about their lack of defensive intensity.
One minor gripe: There were three or four bad fouls committed by Spartan defenders in the backcourt. I understand Izzo wants to pressure the ball to take advantage of our depth, but those sorts of fouls can hurt in a closer game when they allow an opponent to start shooting free throws earlier in the half.
OK, on to the box score. (Notice how I went four full paragraphs before resorting to my usual analyze-the-box-score schtick!)
- At 74 possessions, this was the highest-tempo game MSU has played to date. This was largely a function of San Jose State’s turnovers (23, for a TO% of 31.1%), which led to 20 fast break points for MSU. Justin Graham turned the ball over 8 times.
- San Jose State couldn’t muster any offense, making only 1 of 11 3-point attempts (9.1%) and 17 of 49 2-point attempts (34.7%). 45 points in 74 possessions equates to a downright dismal 0.61 points per possession.
- MSU pulled down 17 of 38 offensive rebounding opportunities (44.7%). Only for this team, could that stat be described as “ho hum.”
- Durrell Summers had a breakout game, scoring 16 points on a combination of fast break baskets and mid-range jumpers. He did take 14 FG attempts to score those points; a few of his jump shot attempts were a bit forced.
- Walton scored only 2 points on 1-6 shooting. But he had 10 assists versus just one turnover and swiped the ball 4 times.
- 14 points on just 9 FG attempts for Neitzel. His shooting stroke looked like it was back to being Neitzelesque from my vantage point.
- 16 quiet point from Morgan on 6-10 shooting.
- 13 blocked shots for the Spartans–4 each for Naymick and Suton and 2 for Tom Herzog, who got himself 8 minutes on the floor. Suton added 4 steals, too–quite the defensive menace.
- And last, but not least: Marquise Gray recorded an assist! His first of the season. Anyone remember the play on which it occurred?
Alright, enough with the statistical superlatives. Bring on those Longhorns. 6:30 Saturday night. ESPN2. Tickets are still available for those interested in a visit to the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Are you heading to the game on Saturday? If so, let me know and I’ll buy you a beer. My dad got tickets at somebody’s suite so I am pretty pumped to see a good game, even if it is at the Palace.
Last night’s game was the most pleasing of the few patsied wins we’ve had this year. I was surprised to see Izzo as upset as he was about the game in general — I thought they did extremely well. This was the first lower level opponent we’ve come out and truly attacked for (almost) 40 straight minutes.
His main gripe, rebounding, was a concern of mine as well. We were up 15 at halftime, but were losing the battle of the boards, surprisingly. We won that end stat by a dozen, I think, but by and large we weren’t rebounding as intensely as in previous games.
I loved the surge Summers went on in the second half. I think he scored most of his points in a few-minute stretch when State blew the game away (can you really blow a game away when you’re already up by 30 or so?). He was looking good.
Suton had a great night. I think he had five early points, then quietly scored a few more through the rest, but the other columns on his stat page were impressive, regarding his rebounding and blocks.
I was looking for Gray a little more last night. He had an awesome game against IPFW, and I don’t remember him having a lot of fouls last night. Nonetheless, he contributed a solid supporting performance.
Tommy Herzog!! A couple of buckets and a couple of blocks! Sure, this was against SJS, but he showed some potential for years to come last night.
In general, I really liked how the freshmen played down the stretch in their ‘garbage time’ mode. Generally, they didn’t let up the intensity and they were full of confidence. Lucas and Summers were working extremely well together. Too bad Allen couldn’t have been in on that action.
I can’t wait for Saturday’s game. I can’t be there, but I’ll surely be watching. If we can play with this intensity, and the confidence we had against SJS, we have a good a shot as any other team at beating Texas. Let’s hook them horns!
David, sadly I won’t be going to the game at the Palace. Family Christmas function to attend. But thanks for the offer.
Spartalytical, this is just Izzo being Izzo. I didn’t think the rebounding was a problem. When a team is putting up bad shots, you’re going to end up with a lot of funny bounces and rebounds falling in players’ laps. But that’s why we love Izzo–he never lets up.
Walton’s defense was excellent last night, especially on one BTN replayed one sequence where he knocked the ball away from his guy twice and harassed him around the backcourt until the guy turned it over.
I did think there was some failures in rebounding beyond the crazy bounces. San Jose State was getting lose under the glass and playing the Raymar Morgan-miss-a-few-short-ones-but-get-your-own-rebound-and-finally-score game. I’d guess that might be the real part of Izzo’s mostly motivational comments.
props to spartanblogger for a dead-on SJS preview, I totally knew what they would (or in their case wouldn’t) do. Plus, cheers to Gray for his first assist, though I too was at the game and don’t remember the play (then again with something like 38 FGs we did have a lot of chances for assists)
Looking forward to the showdown with the Horns. Don’t know what the stats will reveal but one big advantage we will have is depth. The other night their bench contributed 15 minutes and 4 points total!! Augustin is very good but luckily we have three guys who can take turns guarding him. Our recipe for victory appears to be to play “Spartan Basketball” rebound, play D and wear them down and take it late.
Just checked the game log. Gray recorded the assist on a Lucas jumper with 12 minutes to go in the first half.
Props for the new format.