The Michigan State men's basketball team is on to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta, following two 2025 NCAA Tournament wins over Bryant University and the University of New Mexico.
Both of the Spartans' first two games in the tournament had something in common — slow starts leading to what some fans may consider rough first halves to watch.
Against Bryant, the No. 2-seeded Spartans ended the first half only ahead of the No. 15-seeded Bulldogs by five points at 33-28, despite being heavy favorites.
Ultimately, the Spartans surged in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 54-34 in the final 20 minutes, and winning by a final score of 87-62.
However, in Michigan State's Round of 32 matchup against New Mexico, the Spartans once again struggled in the first half. MSU trailed the Lobos by one bucket at the half, 31-29.
In both games, the shots simply were not falling with any sort of ease in the first half and the Spartans appeared unsettled and out of rhythm.
Sophomore forward Coen Carr attributed this lull in scoring to Michigan State's play on the other end of the court.
"We haven't been defending, and that's been affecting our offense in the beginning of the games," Carr started. "So I feel like if we come down and defend and do what we need to do on that end, the slow starts will stop."
When asked how the Spartans were able to adjust each game during halftime, Carr shared that it starts with applying points from the coaching staff in the locker room.
"This is win or go home time," Carr said about the tournament. "He (Tom Izzo) tells us what we need to do better, so we just apply that to the game. We come out in the second half and just really bear down on defense. Our defense, I feel like, starts our offense a lot."
Junior guard and team captain Tre Holloman shared that his team is unhappy with how the Spartans have let these previous two opponents push them around in the first half of the game.
"We start out slow," Holloman said. "I thought we were getting punked a little bit for sure. So then we just came out in the second half and Coach (Izzo) told us to pick up the defense and that's what we did."
Holloman shared that because he holds the title of captain he feels responsible for being a "steady voice" in the locker room to help the team reset.
Senior transfer forward Frankie Fidler flipped the script and used these slow starts as a bit of a positive point. He noted that despite the early struggles, the team has still been able to pick up victories in the tournament.
"I think it just shows our resilience," Fidler said. "We didn't want to start like that again (against New Mexico) because that's kind of how we started during Bryant. It just shows our resilience on this team, and that we can overcome adversity."
Redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. credited Holloman and Carr for providing a boost from the bench to help lift the Spartans back into striking distance in both of those first halves.
"They've been picking us up," Fears said about Holloman and Carr. "Especially since we've been having a lot of slow starts that we gotta fix. (Carr) and Tre (Holloman) have been great for us, especially coming off the bench and giving us a spark when we need it."
In addition to his fellow teammates, Fears credits the fans in the stands for providing needed energy during key moments. He shared that he feels Michigan State has the "best fans in the world" and hearing the "Go Green, Go White" chants and the band playing is something that his squad relies on for energy.
The Spartans head to Atlanta to face Ole Miss on Friday at 7:09 p.m. Eastern Time
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