Saturday's victory wasn’t the prettiest of wins for Michigan State basketball. It was sloppy, physical and, at times, hard to watch.
The Spartans won a defensive battle against Maryland 63-54. The teams shot a combined 38% from the field and 25% from beyond the 3-point arc. There were a combined 25 turnovers, 10 blocks, and 12 steals.
But this is the type of game that the Spartans may have needed to take the next step.
“I said we had to play with a little more toughness and the first half, I thought we did early, then I thought they did," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "[They] got every loose ball for a while. I thought we made some crazy turnovers, but to win a game that way, it's not for the faint of heart, but it was probably good for my program moving forward and what I think we gotta do.”
The Terrapins aren't the best team in the Big Ten, but they test opponents in ways that some of the top teams in the conference can’t.
“They definitely have a physical factor and it’s kinda irritating,” Malik Hall said. “That’s why they’re the best defense in the Big Ten.”
That physical factor affected the Spartans in both meetings this season. The Terrapins held Michigan State to 17 second half points in College Park last month. On Saturday, Maryland forced 12 turnovers and held Michigan State to 44% shooting and 29% from 3-point range. The Terps had three guys with four fouls to end the game, Julian Reese, Jordan Geronimo, and Donta Scott.
Hall was mixing it up in the post with Maryland’s bigs. He also ended the game with four fouls, but he scored 19 points and led MSU with seven boards. Carson Cooper was MSU’s second leading rebounder with six. The Spartans ended up out rebounding Maryland 36-30 after trailing in that department early in the game.
When the Spartans got punched in the mouth early on the glass, they responded well. However, what separates a good team and a great team is the ability to start on time and play a full 40 minutes of basketball.
“We’re playing tougher, but I don’t think we’re at the level that we’ve been at before,” A.J. Hoggard said. “I think we still have to put a full 40 together. I think we were good for about 36 tonight. I think we did a lot of good things defensively. I just think we didn’t do a good job on effort-related stuff, on the second chance points, on loose balls and things like that. I think we gotta shore that up.
“But in everything else, I think we were fine. There’s always room for improvement. But I think we definitely got to be a little bit more tougher all the way across the board with every little thing, especially winning the 50-50 balls. We don’t lose those type of things at Michigan State, so we gotta shore those up.”
Under Izzo, the identity of the program is to defend, rebound, and run. Mixed in there is the expectation of next-level effort, whether it be diving for loose balls or being tenacious on the glass.
Tyson Walker, MSU’s leading scorer who is one game away from setting a new program record of 34 straight games scoring in double digits, said that the Spartans need to be the “first people to hit”. He also emphasized rebounding and getting to loose balls as areas where the team needs to improve. Walker added that they do those things “sporadically” but they need to “put it all together”.
While the physical effort was better than other games that MSU has played this season, partly thanks to the Terps pushing the Spartans to that level, there is still room for improvement in that respect.
“Just being tougher, just being more physical,” Hall said about what MSU needs to improve on. “I think sometimes, we have a tendency to see how the games gonna go and then start playing the game. Sometimes, somebody comes out and they’re already physical with us. And we’re waiting to see ‘oh, is this going to be a physical game?’ And then we start playing physical. I think that’s what coach is talking about, like he wants us to come out physical. He wants to come out aggressive. And we just have to do a better job of that, like we did in the second half.”
If Michigan State wants to make a run leading into March, physicality is something that needs to be emphasized and improved as the Spartans take on some of the tougher teams in the conference like Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, and Northwestern.
Up next for MSU are the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Tuesday, another team that the Spartans have already beat this season. Tip off from Minneapolis will be at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Peacock.
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