Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from domination of Penn State

Michigan State basketball wasted no time with Penn State on Thursday night, cruising to a 31-point win. What’d we learn?

Michigan State basketball faced off against the Penn State Nittany Lions in their first game of the new year on Thursday night. The Spartans entered the game on a hot streak after starting the season cold. The Spartans were looking for their first conference win, having started 0-2.

Tyson Walker entered this game on a hot streak, averaging 20 points per game.

This team has a new swagger since their upset over the then-undefeated Baylor Bears last month, and that continued on Thursday. For the majority of the game, it was not even close. I was fortunate enough to cover both the Baylor and Penn State games for Spartan Shadows and Thursday’s win was reminiscent of the drubbing of Baylor. The final was 92-61, with most of the game being played at a 20-point margin.

Here’s what I noticed.

1. This team forced and capitalized off of turnovers

To begin the game, the Spartans took advantage of two quick Nittany Lions turnovers. Malik Hall was the main beneficiary, with nine points before the game was even five minutes old. Jaden Akins was held out of the scoring column for the beginning of the game, but mostly by choice. He had one missed shot, but four assists and a steal.

In the first half, Tyson Walker had six steals.

Mike Rhoades touched on this in his press conference, saying the Spartans “Just beat us up, ripped the ball out of our hands.” He pointed out Walker, in particular, for his physical (but clean, Rhoades stressed them playing clean but physical) play in stealing the ball.

Carson Cooper added two more in the first half, and the Spartans stood at 11 total after a half. They were on pace for the school record of 18.

Unfortunately, the record was not meant to be. The Spartans as a whole went ice-cold in the second half, and Penn State even cut the lead to 19. For the first 13 minutes of the second half, the Spartans were held out of the steal column. While the two second-half steals were disappointing, 13 steals in a game is nothing to sneeze at. This team can get after the ball defensively, as shown on Thursday.

2. The Spartans were the better team, knew it, and played like it

In the past, the Spartans have seen issues with playing down to their competition. We saw this last month against Nebraska, and Tom Izzo’s squad remembered that feeling. Heading into this game, the feeling was that this year’s Penn State team is not good, to say the least. The belief was that the Spartans should destroy them on the court, and that is exactly what they did. For most of the first half, the Spartans doubled up the Nittany Lions.

In the middle of the first half, the Spartans went on a 23-4 scoring run after the Nittany Lions made it close at 18-12. At the under-four, Michigan State led 45-20. The Spartans nearly doubled up PSU by half, leading 51-26. They played without Akins and Hoggard for the final five minutes due to foul trouble, and the lead was not even impacted. Hoggard needed a late two to hit double-digits, and Izzo noted that AJ’s early foul trouble had the guard off of his normal game tonight. Granted, the Spartans did not need their best player behind Walker to win.

Malik Hall went nuclear in this game, scoring early and often, tying his career-high of 24 points. The Spartans were stealing the ball the entire first half, and this was only when Penn State was not coughing the ball out of bounds or traveling. Despite 21 points from Kanye Cleary, the leading scorer for the Nittany Lions was held to being buried in the plus-minus, being minus-24. The Nittany Lions had 16 total turnovers, with a turnover percentage of 21.6%. Safe to say, the Spartans made them play some not-very-good ball.

The freshman duo of Coen Carr and Xavier Booker saw plenty of time and gained valuable reps for later in the season. Izzo noted in his press conference that Booker’s 14 minutes were intentional, aimed to give him more time to learn and film of where he is and to put more film on for him to learn from.

3. This team was a walking highlight reel

In the first half, you could not look down without missing a Spartan highlight or two. Carr was jumping high enough to hit his head on the video screen, Tre Holloman showed his hops, and we had another assist from a player on the ground. Holloman, Akins, Hoggard, Hall, and Walker all were spreading the ball. They all finished with at least four assists. The team passed, stole, dunked, and hit nice three-balls, too. Mady Sissoko had back-to-back-to-back possessions with a rebound. In his presser, Izzo noted that Sissoko had a great game, and his performance might be under-looked.

Every player on this team had highlights and learning moments.

Hall had an astounding 24 points as one of two Spartans over 20. Walker had 22, easily maintaining his average of 20 points per game. Holloman, Hoggard, and Akins also hit double digits.

When Tyson was asked about Malik’s game, he started by complimenting Hall’s defense, calling him the quarterback of the defense. Hall tied with Akins for the best +/- of the day, with the pair at an astounding plus-35.

Michigan State basketball will look to continue its winning ways on Jan. 7, when it faces Northwestern. The Wildcats have had Izzo’s number in the past, but this team has the confidence and the ability.