4 Observations: Michigan State falls to Purdue in Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals
In a grind-it-out war between two of the heavyweights of the Big Ten Conference, eighth-seed Michigan State men's basketball came up short against top-seed Purdue in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament, 67-62.
For the second time in two weeks, the Spartans pushed the Boilermakers to the brink, but couldn't quite get over the hump against the champions of the Big Ten. Without further ado, here are four observations from today's game...
1.) MSU defended it's tail off
If there's one thing Michigan State fans should take away from these two Big Ten Tournament games is the renewed effort and grit the Spartans played with. With a lot of circumstances going against them (more on that later), MSU defended its tail off in this game and made things really difficult for Purdue in the halfcourt. The Spartans were engaged and physical throughout the afternoon, refusing to back down from the conference champions. Michigan State held Purdue to 42% from the floor and outrebounded the Boilermakers, 37-36.
Michigan State's bigs have been heavily criticized throughout the season, and much of that's been warranted, but those guys battled hard throughout the day. Mady Sissoko came off the bench and grabbed seven rebounds while battling Zach Edey, and I thought Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler fought hard in their minutes despite modest numbers in the box score. Malik Hall added 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Effort and toughness — that's what MSU needs from its frontcourt in the NCAA Tournament.
3.) Not enough shots fall for Spartans
It was a grind offensively again for Michigan State, but the Spartans did get some good looks from outside throughout the game — they just didn't make shots. MSU's starting guards really struggled in this one. Tyson Walker scored 15 points but was just 6-of-18 from the floor. Jaden Akins went 2-for-11 overall and 0-of-4 from 3 to finish with four points. A.J. Hoggard scored eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, though the point guard did hand out 10 assists int the game. As a team, the Spartans shot just 39% from the floor and were a ghastly 4-of-18 from the 3-point line.
It should be noted that Tre Holloman played very well in his two games here at the Big Ten Tournament. The sophomore had 10 points today on 3-of-5 shooting, and added four rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.
3.) The officiating was atrocious
Listen, I'm not a "blame the refs" guy and I hate when that excuse is thrown around as the reason why a team lost. Michigan State had its opportunities and the Spartans just didn't knock down enough open looks to win this game. With that established, the officiating in this game was awful.
There were too many bad calls to list them all here, but two the most egregious were Tyson Walker's charge that resulted in his third foul and Malik Hall's offensive foul in the open court as the first half wound down. Both of those were flops by Purdue's Lance Jones that the officials bought. There was a second charge on Walker, drawn by Jones, late in the game when Jones' foot was inside the restrictive circle. That should have been a block.
Throw in the way Zach Edey is refereed — he's allowed to clear space, but when you push him off his spot you get whistled — and it was a trainwreck of a game for the men in stripes. For one final complaint, I'll just throw out that apparently the three-second violation doesn't apply to the Boilermakers. There are so many other examples we could point to, but I think Tom Izzo summed it up pretty well during his first half TV interview:
4.) Next stop, the NCAA Tournament
This team has been so up-and-down throughout the season, so it's hard to know what to expect from the Spartans in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. With that said, Michigan State played with a renewed focus, energy and toughness in these two games of the Big Ten Tournament and that bodes well for this team heading into next week. The biggest question for MSU is what their seed-line will be, likely either a No. 9 or No. 10 seed in 'the Big Dance'. The Spartans would probably be better served with a 10-seed, as Michigan State would avoid one of the four No. 1 seeds in the second round should they make it through Round 1.
Because of the inconsistency this team has displayed, it's difficult for me to predict a deep run for the Spartans, but I was encouraged by what I saw from MSU this weekend. This team still has the talent to make some noise if the guards can make shots and the bigs can play like they did these last two days. Can Tom Izzo produce more March magic? We'll soon find out.
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