USC Used Interesting Tactic to Limit Spartans' Offense

No. 7 Michigan State men's basketball was finally conquered in Big Ten play after starting 9-0 in conference.
While the Spartans were far from perfect during their 13-game win streak, none of their opponents could stop them, a testament to Michigan State's "strength in numbers."
But USC, an unlikely worthy challenger, found a way on Saturday, as the Trojans downed the then 18-2 Spartans.
Michigan State has excelled in the paint for much of this season, but severely lacks in efficiency from beyond the arc.
On Saturday, USC strived to take away the Spartans' opportunities down low, and it proved to be effective.
"We played a funky defense that we used against Duke last year," said USC coach Eric Musselman in his postgame interview with NBC Sports. "It was a little bit of a gamble, but it paid off, obviously, today."
USC clogged the lanes, with intentions of forcing the Spartans to shoot from outside the paint.
"We played, it's called 'paintball,'" Musselman said. "We actually did it in the NBA Dwyane Wade's rookie year, and couple guys we didn't we didn't want to guard try to keep them from dribble driving, even 55, [Coen] Car. There's a lot of risk in it. We did it last year with [Mark] Mitchell at Duke. And it gives us an extra defender to protect the rim, and there's a little bit more zone principles that I stole from my father in his matchup zones."
Musselman had been the head coach for the Golden State Warriors during that 2003-04 NBA season he had mentioned. He finished second in the voting for NBA Coach of the Year the season before.
The Spartans finished with 34 points in the paint, ultimately scoring a total of just 64 points, their second-lowest scoring mark of the season. The worst happened to be the last time they had lost, when they finished with a mere 63 points in their fall to Memphis at the Maui Invitational.
It's safe to say that Michigan State lives and dies by the paint, and USC was able to expose that on Saturday.
That's where the Spartans' shooting woes from deep can plague Tom Izzo's squad, and while it's just won loss after a 13-game win streak, more teams could start to follow the Trojans' strategy.
Michigan State HAS to improve on its 3-point shooting if it wants to secure the conference title and make a deep run in March.
Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.