It pays to be Naughty
Tom Izzo and Greg Kampe arrived at the annual meeting between the Spartans and Golden Grizzlies donning matching Christmas sweaters in what is becoming a holiday tradition. Well, they were almost matching. Each sweater featured the coach arguing with a referee but Izzo’s sweater said “Naughty” while Kampe earned the “Nice” list. Apparently Tom’s wife, Lupe, picked these out.
On the court, Divine Ugochukwu got his third straight start at the two guard spot for MSU and recorded the Spartans’ first rebound, in what would end up a huge advantage on the glass for Michigan State. It was Oakland, however, that built a 9-6 lead by the 15:41 mark. The Grizzlies were aided by three Michigan State turnovers, leading to four Oakland points.
The Spartans were also struggling to shoot threes as Kur Teng missed one coming out of the first media timeout, making MSU 0-4 from beyond the stripe in the early going. After a Michael Houge three gave Oakland a 12-6 lead, Jaxon Kohler finally hit MSU’s first triple. Kur Teng hit another one a couple minutes later but Oakland still held a 16-14 lead at the 11:48 mark.
A Ziare Wells layup put Oakland up 18-14 but Jesse McCulloch came off the bench to add four points for MSU. This helped the Spartans tie it at 20 with 9:22 to go and it remained deadlocked at 20 at the third media break with 7:59 left in the first half.
The pace increased a bit over the next few minutes and Kur Teng helped MSU to a 25-20 lead with a putback and a three pointer. Oakland responded with four three pointers of their own though and regained a 32-30 lead by the 3:27 mark.
MSU responded with three dunks from Carson Cooper that had the Spartans up 39-36 at the break. The last two of Cooper’s slams were lobs from Fears and the last one was an and-one that broke a 36 all tie.
It wasn’t a great half for the Spartans though. Michigan State struggled at times against Oakland’s zone and traps against MSU’s bigs. The Spartans finished the half with seven turnovers but Oakland could only convert them to six points. MSU had a 15-0 advantage in bench points, led 20-12 in points in the paint, and dominated on the break (12-2) and the boards (25-13). But MSU hit just 43% from the floor and 4-13 on three pointers while Oakland went 6-14 on their triples, which included four in a row at one point.
Michael Houge led all scorers at the break with 13 points on 5-7 shooting to keep Oakland in it.
Michigan State apparently made some halftime adjustments and immediately had more success against the zone to start the second half. Coen Carr and Teng hit open threes. Teng and Jeremy Fears drove to the rim for layups – Fears’s was his first shot attempt and bucket of the game. Kohler got position near the rim and converted and it was suddenly 51-41, MSU, with 15:48 to go.
The Spartans had chances to extend the lead even further over the next four minutes but missed four open threes. Michigan State was just 6-20 from deep at this point and Oakland was back within single digits, at 55-47, with 11:52 remaining.
Carr faked a three but earned one the old fashioned way with a drive and one to put MSU up 58-47. Oakland remained in it, trailing only 60-52 at the halfway mark of the second half.
Over the next seven minutes, Oakland got within six points six times but couldn’t get any closer. The Spartans led 71-65 with 2:53 to go after Carr was fouled to bring on the last media timeout.
Carr hit one of his two free throws coming out of the break and took over for MSU from there. His midrange jumper put the Spartans up 74-65 and a putback and free throw with 35 seconds to go made it 79-68. It also gave Carr a career high with 22 points.
It ended with a 79-70 Spartan victory and Izzo’s 24th victory in a row over Kampe.
After seven turnovers in the first half, MSU had just four the rest of the way and actually won the turnover battle, 11-12. Michigan State maintained huge advantages in rebounding, points in the paint, and second chance points. MSU’s biggest advantage, however, was in bench points at 27-3.
I won’t try to copy O’s Like & Dislikes but I guess I will advocate for Kur Teng to start at the two spot. Teng had 10 of MSU’s 27 bench points while Ugochukwu had another quiet game after scoring 23 in starting against Penn State. This is nothing against Ugochukwu, who only attempted one shot today, but more that his greatest advantage to MSU would be the original reason he was brought here – to back up Fears.
Right now, this appears to be Denham Wojcik’s responsibility. While Wojcik has been solid at times in handling the ball and on defense, he hasn’t yet proved to be a scoring threat. Wojcik was actually in the game in the last couple of minutes with the game still in doubt while Fears was getting yelled at (coached) by Izzo on the bench. But Denham slipped and gave up a three to Oakland’s Brett White which made it 76-68 with 1:04 to go. Fears came back in after that.
Ugochukwu can still play the two, along with Teng, Jordan Scott, and Trey Fort but still needs to be Fears’ primary backup at the one.
On that note, MSU is off for the holidays until a December 29 tip with Cornell.
Happy Holiday, TOC, and thanks for reading.
Category: General Sports
