Michigan State's comeback attempt against Memphis fell short in a 69-63 loss Tuesday in the semifinal of the Maui Invitational.
The Tigers led this game by as much as 15 in the second half. MSU was able to cut its deficit to five in the last minute, but it was not enough.
The Tigers pride themselves on hustle and physicality --- fitting for a team coached by 1990’s NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway. Memphis pressured every single thing Michigan State wanted or tried to do offensively for all 40 minutes.
MSU ended up turning it over 13 times. Memphis made sure to capitalize on those opportunities, scoring 22 points on possessions off Spartan turnovers.
In addition, Memphis simply did a noticeably better job than MSU at making the tough shots. There is no real way to quantify it, but there were several points in this game where the Spartans had some momentum get clipped by a difficult shot falling for a Tiger.
The two main players making big shots for Memphis were the ones you would expect: guards PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter. Haggerty entered averaging 22.4 points per game, though MSU held him to a below average 16. Hunter, meanwhile, scored 23 while having averaged 15.8 coming into the matchup against the Spartans.
Four of Hunter’s points were on one pivotal play after hitting a three and getting fouled, putting Memphis up 11 with 4:33 to go.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo called upon his two guards that have been able to consistently provide in the scoring column to try and match Haggerty and Hunter: Jase Richardson and Jaden Akins.
After being the only Spartans in double figures against Colorado, Richardson bested his 13-point performance with a career-high 18 points against the Tigers. Akins, who has gone up and down this year, followed up just four points Monday with 12 in the second game of the invitational.
It didn’t help that MSU’s bigs were essentially non-factors on the offensive end. All were all held scoreless in the first half — Jaxon Kohler, Szymon Zapala, Carson Cooper and Xavier Booker. Those four ended up scoring seven points altogether, all by Kohler.
It was tough for any Spartan to get near the floral design near the basket in Maui: the Tigers outscored the Spartans 32-22 in the paint. That had generally been a place MSU had been able to thrive, having won that battle 50-28 against the Buffaloes.
Outside the painted area, for better and worse, Michigan State’s second of three games in the Maui Invitational was one of shooting trends going in opposite directions.
The Spartans entered Tuesday’s contest dead last in Division I with a 20% 3-point percentage. After shooting just 2-of-21 from deep against CU on Monday, MSU took the lid off the rim with a 7-for-20 (35%) game from beyond the arc this time around, including a 5-for-11 (45.5%) first half.
In fact, the Spartans went shot-for-shot from beyond the arc with the second-best 3-point shooting team in the country. Memphis ended the day 8-for-23 (34.8%) on deep shots.
But that seemingly came at the cost of MSU’s performance at the foul line. The Spartans were shooting just under 81% on free throws through six games. Game number seven popped out a 12-for-19 (63.2%) day from the charity stripe instead. There were two instances in the first half alone of an MSU shooter missing on both attempts, leaving vital points in a tight game on the table.
As a result, MSU was playing from behind almost all night. The Spartans only led for 2:13 and their last lead was with 13:08 to go in the first half, though MSU did manage to tie it up just over a minute and a half into the second half. Memphis led for more than 33 of the game's 40 minutes in total.
Regardless, it was still a competitive game almost throughout. Memphis' 3-point halftime lead became a tie game early on in the second half, but the Tigers simply did the small things better.
MSU’s final game in the Aloha State will be the invitational's third-place game against the loser of No. 4 Auburn and No. 12 North Carolina. That game will tip off at approximately 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and will be on ESPN2.
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