Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from scare against Penn State

Well, my ears are still ringing from the referees’ whistles. Michigan State basketball was back home after their weekend trip to Chicago to play the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Nittany Lions were 11.5-point underdogs, with star guard Ace Baldwin Jr. questionable. That said, after getting a close look at this team when covering them for Basic Blues in the Big Ten Tournament in March, I had them circled as a sneaky contender with who they returned. Baldwin Jr. was able to play, putting in a superhuman 40 minutes while in clear pain.

Sure enough, this screamed trap game, and it was. The Spartans survived (and I mean that word) as the game swung between a 4-and-9 point margin the whole second half. The Nittany Lions never led, but they also never let the Spartan faithful head to the exits until the last minute of game time. Nobody beat the traffic on Wednesday night.

What did we learn?

1. Tempo, tempo, tempo

Much like against Washington, this Tom Izzo-led squad utilized tempo early and often. The Spartans gashed the Nittany Lions on the fastbreak, with 12 of their first-half 46 points coming via fastbreak opportunites. In addition, there were at least six points left off the board in mental errors that should have been a fastbreak slam or layup for the Spartans.

Also, as is the story of the season, a few great looks on threes bounced out for the Spartans. Jaxon Kohler and Tre Holloman each had uncontested threes that went out, but both had hit closer contested ones in the first half, too.

The tempo usage by the Spartans got to the point that when the Nittany Lions were shooting free throws, Penn State coach Mike Rhoades held star point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. and 7-foot forward Yanic Konan Niederhauser at their own free throw line to avoid any fast chances for the Spartans. With both averaging double digits entering the game, that was a huge offensive reduction due to fear of the Michigan State basketball tempo.

After Penn State cut the lead to as small as two during the second half opening stint, MSU forced turnovers and pressure led to the lead growing back to nine by the under-12 at 11:51 left in the second. Unfortunately, the Spartan tempo fizzled out when the whistles started. However, when the game was allowed to be played freely, the Spartans had the Nittany Lions on the ropes.

2. Points off turnovers

Speaking of turnovers, the Spartans dominated and took advantage early and often. By half, the Spartans had 19 points off PSU’s nine turnovers. They added another six in the opening part of the second. Frankie Fidler looked like a coverage linebacker intercepting multiple passes.

However, despite quite a few late Penn State turnovers, the Spartans only put up another two points off turnovers in the final 11 minutes and change from the game. In part, that was how the lead dwindled from 9-and-10 points to 4-and-5 point advantage as the game closed out.

The Spartans had eight steals, a respectable mark. Fidler accounted for four of them. Half the steals came from one player. That player also happened to be the leading scorer.

Head-banded Fidler is about to be in the same lore as Aircraft Carrier Mady Sissoko. Izzo would not commit to Fidler having “more than a moment”, challenging his player to put together 5-to-6 games in a row like this. Personally, I think we all would not mind that. For the record, Fidler made it clear that the headband is here to stay. Despite never wearing one in middle school, high school, or Nebraska-Omaha, Fidler tried it out this summer, shelved it besides media day, but brought it back. He has been a new man in the last few games.

3. Ref ball

What disrupted Michigan State’s second-half points off of turnovers, you might ask? The fouls. All of them. In fact, reading this right now, the referees just whistled you for a foul.

This game was won at the line, with both teams shooting 24 and 25 at the charity stripe. Michigan State won that battle, shooting 20-for-24 to PSU’s 19-for-25. In a five-point victory, six missed free points loom large.

This game was frustrating to watch, as both teams were slugging it out, only for any good back-and-forth to be disrupted by a foul. In the first half, MSU was at the line 12 times to PSU’s nine. In the second, PSU won the battle to get to the stripe, 16-12. Every single player, spare one, was whistled for a foul tonight. Nine Nittany Lions and nine Spartans were whistled for a foul, be it in 2:04 of playing time or the full 40 minutes (respect to the not-at-full-strength Ace Baldwin). You might realize, MSU has a 10-man rotation. Who was not whistled for a foul? The star of the game, Frankie Fidler.

Jeremy Fears Jr. picked up a technical foul for having words with Baldwin Jr. after it appeared the Nittany Lion pulled Szymon Zapala’s arm to make him lose balance on a post-whistle dunk. Izzo was clear in the press conference saying “I am the only one who should get a tech.” Izzo is all for his guys sticking up for one another, but said he will make sure that he gets the point across to Fears and the team that technical fouls are a no-no.

Michigan State basketball had guards Tre Holloman, Fears, and Jase Richardson all finish with four fouls. Two of these fouls on Richardson were questionable, at best. Both appeared to be clean blocks, but instead, the Spartan finished with zero blocks and two questionable fouls. It is safe to say that the true freshman appeared ready to pull his hair out with some of the calls late in the game. All of that said, Richardson played the final 5:51 of the game. He played that with three fouls, picking up his fourth with 56 seconds remaining, but kept his composure.

Speaking of composure, Holloman finished the final 2:53 of the game on four fouls, did not foul out, and was able to give himself a double-digit night. Not bad for the co-captain.

Speaking of co-captains, huge shoutout to Jaden Akins. He seemed to be the only other clean Spartan aside from Fidler, and Akins added a dagger three late and had a huge 16 points for the Spartans.

Not to be outdone in the foul race, the Nittany Lions lost Yanic Konan Neiderhauser to five fouls, and had D’Marco Dunn playing with four at the end of the night. In addition, another trio of Nittany Lions played with three fouls by the end.

Izzo stated, “I guess it was an ugly match, with so many fouls.”

To an extent, I agree. Although, I leave tonight disappointed at what could have been. This match, if reffed differently, could have been fantastic. Even without foul shots counting, each team put up 66 (PSU) and 70 (MSU) points, respectively. Defense was non-existent, and Tom Izzo sounded like his team lost by 20 in the post-game press conference due to this fact.

That is the bonus takeaway: the defense needs to step it up. This squad can make a run in March and April, but if they are allowing 40-or-more points in the second half, as they have the last three games, they will be hard-pressed to see the round of 32.

However, at the end of the day, a five-point win counts the same as a 35-point victory. The Spartans have their first 10-game winning streak since 2018. They also start 6-0 in conference play for the first time in the 2020s.

What’s next?

The Spartans have a few days to clean their act up, and they certainly need to. The 19th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini head into town on Sunday at noon to try to dethrone the Spartans as the top-ranked Big Ten team. They have shot lights out against Michigan State basketball recently, and Izzo is well aware, saying that “Illinois in town is like the Celtics or Lakers in the last two years.”

The Spartans will not see Penn State the rest of the season, pending Big Ten Tournament action or NCAA Tournament action, assuming both teams make it that far. This is probably a good thing.