The Michigan State men's basketball team defeated Oakland by a final score of 77-58 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday night.
The 19-point final margin does not highlight how tough the Golden Grizzlies — playing without forward Buru Naivalurua, who averages 12.6 points per game — played in the first half.
At halftime, Michigan State clung to just a one-point lead, 31-30. However, the Spartans outscored the Golden Grizzlies 46-28 in the second half to secure a runaway victory.
Michigan State is now 23-0 in the all-time series against Oakland. Still, it is stressful for MSU head coach Tom Izzo to go up against friend, OU head coach Greg Kampe, each year.
Izzo and Kampe wore matching "The Grinch" sweaters on Tuesday, which Izzo called "the ugliest sweaters" he's ever seen.
"There's part of me that hates this game, I said it every year," Izzo said about playing Oakland. "But, you've gotta give Kampe credit — the time he's put in there, the job he's done, the different lineups he's had to play, the injuries he's going through. I thought the kid —number seven, who's been out — (Isaiah) Jones (played well). I mean, this team's gonna be damn good in that league. I think it's gonna be really good."
When pressed further about why Izzo doesn't like playing Oakland, he expanded on his thoughts.
"Well, when it was 31-30, no fun at halftime," Izzo began when explaining why he dislikes playing the Golden Grizzlies. "I'd rather have some fun when I play a game — especially when the crowd was so great. The crowd was awesome, I just loved it. … (Kampe) is a friend, but he's a respected friend. I like the way he does it, I like the way he's done it. He keeps getting different guys and he plugs them into his system. But he always has a couple of things. He's got that zone that's hard, and he's got some guys that can fill it up.
"Now I told my team, we shot the ball so poorly, that Kampe was one guy I called. I called the coach at UCLA (Mick Cronin) because they were shooting it terrible. I tried to find a couple guys around the country that were shooting in the low 20s or teens (percentage) from the three (point distance) after seven, eight games. These guys were one of them. I kept saying, 'He's not gonna let them take those shots if they're not good shooters.' Sure enough, that first half, they shot the lights out. That's what you know you're getting from Greg Kampe. He's gonna have a couple guys that can really shoot it, he's gonna play that screwed-up, wacked-out zone that nobody in the country plays – nobody. It's gonna help us, my staff said it. Any zone is hard to go against, because not many people play zone anymore, but his zone is incredibly difficult to scout, to practice against, and then to play against."
Izzo was not pleased with his team's effort on defense in the first half, but he credited point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. for helping the Spartans take control in the second half. While Fears only recorded four points and four assists on the night, he locked in defensively on Oakland guard DQ Cole.
After Cole dropped 15 points in the first half (5-for-13 from the field, 5-for-9 from 3-point distance), Fears spoke to Izzo at halftime and requested to guard Cole in the second half. Fears and the Spartans held Cole to just two points in the second half on 1-for-7 shooting.
"We didn't come with the same defensive intensity the first half," Izzo explained. "They (the Grizzlies) caused some of it. Jeremy Fears, of all the people — when you talk about a guy that has one basket, and really not as many assists as normal, four assists — I thought he won us the game just because of the job he did on Cole. And he asked for him at halftime, and I said 'sure.' And that was the difference in the game."
A career-high 18 points from forward Xavier Booker, to go along with six rebounds (four offensive) and a block, 16 points from guard Jaden Akins and a double-double from forward Jaxon Kohler (14 points and 10 rebounds) also buoyed the Spartans to victory.
Izzo liked some things that his team accomplished on Tuesday night, but of course, there are plenty of things he wants to improve upon moving forward.
"We had some other guys that played pretty well," Izzo said. "Booker, of course, came in (and scored 18 points). Jaxon (Kohler) gets another double-double, which was really big on his part. I just didn't think we had the same zip. Jaden (Akins) made some great shots early, and then we started shooting from NBA range because we were in an NBA arena ... And so there are some things that we've got to get better at. Some coverages — and give (Oakland) credit, they sprint off those screens — and we had some coverages to chase it, and we didn't chase it, and we got stung. So, it was a good learning lesson."
As for Booker, Izzo has seen a recent change in the sophomore. He knows that Booker still has a long way to go to reach his full potential, but he is encouraged with what he has seen as of late.
"He got four offensive rebounds, that's gotta be a career-high, and and I'm happy for Xavier," Izzo said about Booker. "Trust me when I say this, long ways to go for our team, long ways to go for Xavier. He is making progress. And, he's trusted the system, the progress, and he's practiced a lot better. And I don't know why, but since Maui, in the tournament even, he's practiced better and he's becoming pretty efficient. He's becoming better defensively. He blocked a couple shots —that would be a big addition to our team. So, hats off to Book."
Izzo also was pleased with the play of center Szymon Zapala, who had five points, eight rebounds, three assists and six blocks on Tuesday night. He likes the size and versatility that Zapala provides.
The Michigan State head coach mentioned that he wanted to see more rebounding out of his guards after the first half. He felt if the guards hit the boards hard, and were also able to be aggressive at the offensive end, it would give the Spartans a better chance to win the game by having players that were engaged in multiple facets.
"If we get some rebounding out of (our guards), and then they can attack on the other end, then they can do two things," Izzo said. "I don't like one-dimensional players, and I thought we got one-dimensional for a while."
Izzo was impressed with Oakland's shooting, hustle going after loose balls and rebounding in the first half. He also liked the play of OU guard Jaylen Jones.
Of note, Izzo mentioned the respect that he has for Kampe and the Oakland program. MSU currently has three staff members who all spent time at Oakland during their careers: assistant coach Jon Borovich, assistant coach Saddi Washington and graduate assistant Blake Lampman.
Many of the current staff members, including Izzo, know how big of a game it is for the Golden Grizzlies whenever they play the Spartans.
"I do have great, great respect for them, but at the same time, (our staff) reminded our guys that this is the Fourth of July, Christmas and the Super Bowl (for Oakland), and it should be," Izzo explained. "I was at Northern Michigan and we played Michigan Tech, it was Fourth of July, Christmas and the Super Bowl. I understand what big games are like, especially when you're at different levels."
Izzo was also complimentary of the crowd that came out to Little Caesars Arena to support the two teams, especially the Michigan State fans.
"I can't thank our crowd enough, and hopefully Oakland's crowd, too," Izzo said. "But the number of people from Michigan State that showed up is why I play (this game), so people that never see us can see us. A lot of times, those people don't get to get into Breslin, and I greatly appreciated the way they were."
Next up, the now 9-2 Spartans will return home on Saturday to take on Florida Atlantic (7-5) at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern Time and will broadcast on FS1.
