You could argue that Michigan State’s win over Purdue on Thursday night was the Spartans’ biggest win of the season. No, it wasn’t the highest ranked team we’ve beaten; that was Illinois. No, it wasn’t one of the early-season neutral-site games that we normally struggle in as it takes us longer to fall into form; we actually won those ones this year. But it was a late-in-season road game in a place where we have struggled in recent history. Most importantly, with the win, MSU now controls its own destiny for getting the triple-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. If MSU can hold serve at Indiana on Sunday and then against Rutgers next Thursday on Senior Day, then it would be impossible for Purdue to pass us in the standing. And it looks great on our tourney resume, as well; a three-seed feels like the floor now.
It was a rock-em sock-em type of game where the final result was always in question. Our Spartans did just enough to get out of West Lafayette with a W for the first time since 2014. Feels like an appropriate occasion to bust out some lists.
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3 Things I Liked
1. Carson Cooper Mean-Mugging.
As the self-proclaimed president of the Carson Cooper Fan Club (CCFC), I hereby declare this to be the all-time best highlight reel footage from Carson Cooper. Pro level spin move. Thunderous dunk. 10/10 post-dunk mean-mug. Bonus point for hitting the and-1 FT.
I said in my preview for the Ohio State game that one of the keys for MSU would be Carson Cooper elevating his game down the stretch run. I will allow myself to believe that Coop Deville read my article. He clearly has answered the call. In the last two games, he has scored 35 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. He had three helpers against OSU and 1 dime, 1 block, and 1 steal against Purdue. He is making sure he leaves a legacy in East Lansing with his play over the last two games. We need him to keep it up.
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2. Only 6 turnovers. This was perhaps the most important stat in determining MSU’s win last night. Those 6 giveaways, while not a season low (we had just 5 against Washington and Duke), were a strange sight. We Spartan fans are accustomed to seeing that figure in double-digits, and often times MSU loses this category in the box score. Against Purdue, MSU won that battle 6-9. That lead to a massive edge in points off turnovers for the Spartans, 19-5. The team just seemed to be playing with more focus yesterday. They knew it was time to get into March-mode.
3. Cam Ward answering Izzo’s challenge. You saw the headlines. After the closer-than-expected win over Ohio State, Tom Izzo called out a couple of his players by name to the press. One of those guys was freshman Cam Ward. So how did Cam Ward respond? Like a man who got called out publicly. From his first shift, we could see Ward was looking to score. In the end, he played 20 minutes – 2nd most of his MSU career – and scored 8 points on 4-4 shooting. He added 4 boards and 2 steals. I will forgive him for the missed FT at the end that allowed Purdue a chance to win it at the buzzer since we all had a pretty good idea he would miss it. I am a little salty that it was Fletcher Loyer who ended up getting the rebound, though.
What surprised me the most was the last play of the game. Cam Ward was in the game on Purdue’s last possession; Jaxon Kohler was not in. We can only take that as a vote of confidence from Izzo in Ward’s defense. And on that last play, Ward was guarding the inbounds pass and did a great job of making sure that pass was only going in one possible direction – away from the basket. Overall, his defense looked good. His performance was another part of MSU’s game that looked like it had locked in and was ready to play Spartan basketball.
3 Things I Disliked
1. Jeremy Fears Jr. with only 6 assists. We ran a survey leading up to this game, and most of you thought Fears would collect more dimes than his Purdue counterpart, Braden Smith. It did not quite work out that way as Fears ended with just a half dozen while Smith had 7 in just the first half and ended with 10. Those 6 assists were Fears’ fewest since he had five against Oregon on January 20. He hit double-figures in this stat in four of the last five games.
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As a team, MSU ended up with just 15 assists on 29 made field goals. Purdue had 23 on 28 makes. There were a lot of great individual efforts but it was not our best display of team offense. Yes, some credit here to Purdue’s defense, but we also missed a lot of open looks that would have inflated Fears’ assist line.
2. Jaxon Kohler struggling from deep. The shot continues not to fall for Kohler. Against Purdue, he finished 1-6 from behind the arc, 3-10 overall. On one possession late in the game, he missed short on a wide-open shot and after we got the rebound, he was fed for another try from the same spot that he missed short again. That is four consecutive games, and five of the past six, where Kohler has not made more than 1 triple. This may be the biggest concern I have as we enter March. While Cooper has stepped up recently, our other senior leader has been regressing. I am not sure if it is mental; has he lost confidence in his shot? Or is it him simply reverting back to his mean after an absolutely scorching first half of the season? Here’s hoping whatever it is gets fixed soon.
3. Short bench. Against Purdue, MSU only played 8 players. We never saw Trey Fort of Jesse McCulloch, and Denham Wojcik only got 4 minutes of run to give Jeremy Fears his only breaks. If these guys are not even stepping onto the court in games, I can only presume that Coach Izzo is making those decisions in practice. It is great that Cam Ward stepped up for this one, but we need a little more support from the bench.
As we get into the Big Ten Tournament and then the Big Dance where we will be playing on back-to-back days or with just a day’s rest, we need to let our starters get some rest. It’s not just the faster turn-around between games, but defenses tend to be tougher and more physical when the games become win-or-go-home. The other big question I have as we barrel toward the postseason is can players 9 & 10 show Izzo enough in practice to earn some playing time? I will reserve my thoughts on the backup PG situation for now.
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VICTORY FOR MSU!!!
