[ad_1]
1. MSU earns the right to continue fighting with a resounding victory over Northwestern
EAST LANSING – A tough fight for its season: that’s what the Michigan State basketball team won Wednesday night, 53-49, over visiting Northwestern.
There was no championship at stake. There is no legacy to leave. Only the possibility of being embarrassed. Of being dangerously close to missing the NCAA tournament. Of being that group that breaks the streak in a program that has not missed the Big Dance since before any of them were born. Of having to celebrate senior night after the game when it would be hard to find anything to celebrate.
“You can’t lose the last one here,” Tyson Walker said after his final game at the Breslin Center. “That’s bad. It ruins the celebration.”
The Spartans shot horribly: 19 of 60 overall, 2 of 17 from deep. However, they fought back, rallied and defended strongly, and had to fall into a late, hairy North West possession that felt ominous. But Ryan Langborg’s potentially game-winning 3-pointer with 11 seconds left clattered off the back iron and Tre Holloman handed over his body for the rebound in a collision that could have knocked him out. He then made two free throws.
That was enough. Doesn’t inspire confidence. Not finishing early enough for the seniors to kiss on center court during the game. But job done. At night. And, at 18-12 and 10-9 in the Big Ten, one step closer to securing their 26th consecutive NCAA tournament.
MSU’s seniors showed how much they care the way they attacked the second half, with Walker scoring 12 of his 19 points after the break, Malik Hall scoring nine of his 15 (and grabbing 17 rebounds) and AJ Hoggard scoring all six of his points. in the last 20 minutes.
Holloman, the only MSU player to hit a 3-pointer (two of them), provided the necessary juice on both ends, finishing with 12 points on a night in which Jaden Akins missed all seven of his shots and the Spartans’ four centers combined for one. point, an early free throw by Mady Sissoko (although they combined for 10 rebounds).
In the final 16 seconds, Holloman, Hoggard, Hall, Walker and Akins tried to make one last stop. Not a center on the field, a symbol of this team’s biggest flaw.
Northwestern is a good team: Bound for the NCAA tournament, the Wildcats beat the Spartans in Evanston in January and scored 88 points on them that night. So keeping them at 49 is nothing. Grabbing 19 offensive rebounds is nothing. Defeating Boo Buie for probably the last time is nothing.
It’s not everything either. That game on Sunday in Indiana is important. But a little less big after surviving this one. They probably need one more win before selection Sunday to ensure they qualify.
“I think our team is united,” Tom Izzo said. “I think we have a lot of things we can build on. I think we are better than we play. I think we have a career in us. I hope you all challenge me on this. I do not blame them.
“We just didn’t seem to have what I think we have. And we have to find a way to achieve it. Because if we do, there might be an opportunity for one of those races.”
It didn’t feel like Wednesday. But winning with courage and rebounding four nights after playing with courage and fighting in a close loss at Purdue at least gives some credence to the idea that this team will go down on the right foot.
2. MSU’s senior class still has a chance to reinforce its legacy
Apparently all the MSU fans stayed for the Senior Day ceremony. They applauded and cheered vigorously for the MSU seniors when they were announced. They like these guys, for the most part, even if they frustrate the hell out of them.
This MSU senior class has a chance to be remembered differently than it is thought now. But they have work to do to get there, well beyond senior night.
This class, which is actually a combination of the incoming classes of 2019, 2020 and 2021, in all likelihood will not have reached a Final Four, won a Big Ten title or made it past the Sweet 16 when their time is up.
That doesn’t apply to Malik Hall, who won a Big Ten title and maybe would have made it to a Final Four in 2020. And if we’re not going to give him a lot of credit for that 2019-20 season, because he was a freshman and role player, then we shouldn’t rule this class out for its younger years when the deficiencies fell heavily on the earlier classes.
This group, like all groups, should be judged by their last two seasons, their years of performance. And, in that sense, its history is not entirely written. But, phew, too often in recent weeks the ending seems obvious.
Still, this season is theirs and it’s not over. The NCAA Tournament, whenever MSU gets there (Wednesday’s win helped) is a chance to leave fans with a final memory that changes a lot about their legacies. Just like MSU teams did in the postseason in 2003, to some extent in 2005 and 2015. And even last year. That Sweet 16 run partly created hope that this team could be special, expectations that, to this point, have not been met.
This class should also not be viewed entirely as one. Tyson Walker, even in a slightly diminished state these days due to injury, has had a career that is anything but disappointing. Hall, when he’s healthy, has been very good overall over the last two months. He was great on Wednesday.
“That was a man’s night for him,” Izzo said.
AJ Hoggard, well, he’ll have to be special from now on to alter the way he’s remembered. But if MSU had had a proper Big Ten center these last two seasons, maybe Hoggard would look like a different player, maybe all of these guys would have won more, maybe we would look at them differently as a group. Part of his legacy falls on Izzo and his staff for not providing an interior presence that would give them the opportunity to compete for more. Part of it falls on them. They are on the court. They’ve lost some games they didn’t need to.
Their basketball careers at MSU do not define them as people. He should never do it. That’s why the applause was so loud. They share something with the fan base. They chose MSU.
But basketball is the reason we watch and write. And on the field they still have work to do.
RELATED: A look at the six Michigan State basketball seniors honored Wednesday night
3. Freshman Thoughts: Northwestern Edition: Booker Shows Raised Floor
It’s rare for a freshman’s growth to be linear. And on Wednesday, Xavier Booker was not the impact player he had been at times in recent games. But it also wasn’t the responsibility he once was. His floor on any given night is higher. And that’s nothing.
Booker had a rough first half, holding MSU down five in his four minutes. He missed a three-pointer, no big deal, and also gave up a post shot and a rebound that should have been his. But Izzo came back to him in the second half and played him six straight minutes midway through the half. His best contribution was an offensive rebound that he kept alive and turned into a Tyson Walker layup. There is nothing small about a game like this.
Most importantly for Booker, this game solidified that he is an important part of the rotation in both halves. MSU will need him to make a difference in upcoming games.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
[ad_2]
Source link