Michigan State 75, Michigan 63
For the second time this season, Michigan State overpowered Michigan in the second half, and Cassius Winston led the Spartans to a victory. Even though Michigan got off to a hot start, State hung around during a weird first half, then went on a huge run to lock up a share of the Big Ten championship. Over a eight minute span in the second half, the Spartans didn’t miss a shot: during that stretch, State made ten shots in a row and went on a 28-7 run. As Michigan’s offense bogged down again against the State defense, the Spartans scored 1.39 points per possession after the break.
Winston was the engine for State, as he’s been all season. The likely Big Ten Player of the Year had a rough first half by his standards — 1-5 shooting (but seven points, mostly due to free throws) and sat for much of the half after committing his second foul on Zavier Simpson with 7:34 left. State survived in their minutes without him; they trailed by eight when he went out and trailed by six at halftime. Michigan’s two starting wings each picked up two fouls of their own in that first half, necessitating substantial minutes from Eli Brooks and Brandon Johns, as well as Colin Castleton, who stepped in after an early Jon Teske foul.
Michigan played well in that first half. Jordan Poole and Ignas Brazdeikis were active early — they each knocked down a three and each got out in transition for a bucket — and State was sloppy with the ball after not turning it over much in the first matchup. With an Eli Brooks three late in the shot clock to push the lead to 25-16, Michigan had made five of their first eight three-point attempts. Over the rest of the game, the Wolverines shot just 3-14 from behind the arc. The second foul on Iggy, who had scored a quick 12 points without missing a shot, was a particularly consequential one — Winston drew contact on the shot and Iggy was banished to the bench.
Without Winston, State finds it very difficult to generate offense, and Michigan had an opportunity to extend what had grown to a 33-23 lead with a little over six minutes left in the half, but only scored two more points before halftime. Xavier Tillman was an essential presence defensively for State: he emphatically rejected several Simpson layups and held up in their switching defensive scheme against smaller and quicker players. Tillman would go on to finish with 17 points, 6 rebound, and 5 blocks, and he outplayed Teske for the second consecutive game. In a preview of what was to come in the second half, Michigan’s unusual lineups couldn’t generate many easy looks, settling for (and missing) tough shots.
State’s second half run didn’t come right away. Teske had tip-ins on each of Michigan’s first two possessions, but State countered with a Kenny Goins three (after losing Iggy) and an old-fashioned three by Matt McQuaid (after Poole fell asleep on the defensive glass). Those breakdowns — normally few and far between for the Wolverines — came with increasing frequency over the course of the game, and eventually the Spartans were able to score at will. Iggy knocked down a three off the dribble over a sinking Goins to extend Michigan’s lead to 48-40, but State was just beginning its big run.
Winston looked uncomfortable for much of the game to that point, but he started things off with an and-one layup over Colin Castleton. A defensive scramble led to a McQuaid three; Kyle Ahrens made a nice cut and scored off a Tillman post up; Michigan’s defense was unsettled to start a possession and Winston set up Goins for a wide open three; Simpson had to give a foul to prevent a Winston dunk. Tillman made both free throws to tie the game. By that point, Michigan was imploding: they surely had prepped for State’s defense, but looked indecisive against the mismatches, rarely fed Teske in the post, and their offensive sets looked far more simple and stale than usual.
After Tillman tied the game with those free throws, Teske airballed a decent look from three, and Winston banked one in late in the shot clock on the next possession. He then beat Simpson off the dribble for a floater off glass. Aaron Henry hit a floater after a broken-up alley-oop pass fell to him; Winston charged over Poole in transition; Winston rejected a screen and snuck past Teske for a layup to put State up 7. On Michigan’s next trip, Michigan was able to get Teske the ball in the post on Winston and scored through contact — but was called for a phantom travel. It was one of a handful of questionable calls, and an important one. Winston threw an alley-oop to Tillman for a dunk on the next possession; Tillman was fouled and made both free throws after a defensive rebound; Winston made a tough shot over Simpson to cap the run.
By that point, State had built a comfortable lead and Michigan’s offense had grown dysfunctional enough to make the prospects of a comeback bleak. That foul on Tillman was a needless one — Iggy’s fourth — and Iggy got his fifth a short while later after a Tillman offensive rebound, one of many for State. Winston’s big second half got him to an impressive 23 points and 7 assists on the game, and State’s role players — particularly Tillman — played well enough. In many ways, this was a repeat of the first matchup: Michigan played well up until a few minutes into the second half when they fell apart on both ends of the floor, State went on a huge run, and Winston was the best player on the floor.
Michigan finishes an excellent regular season with a 26-5 record, but will be the third seed in the Big Ten Tournament after losing out on a share of the conference title with the defeat tonight. The Wolverines will play in the late Friday night game of the Big Ten Tournament. Hopefully Charles Matthews (who was sorely missed as Michigan’s lack of wing depth was exposed) will be healthy by then. A strong postseason would certainly mitigate much of the disappointment from the result in this huge game.
[Box score after the JUMP]
Not related to the MSU game, but: sorry, Sister Jean. Loyola-Chicago's loss today means you won't have the chance to get that 2/15 matchup against Michigan that you predicted you'd win. However, we'll all pull for you to shock the world with a run to New York with the automatic NIT bid. :)
Iggy was the only one that showed up. Z and Teske had horrible games. Very disappointed in the D gameplan. Nuff said. Regroup and move on.
Jordan Poole’s shot selection kills this offense at times. Offense seems to be humming and poised to blow the game open early but he decides to jack an iso 3 or massage the dribble for 10 seconds before taking a contested pull up and misses them - both of which led to MSU baskets. He seems more efficient when he’s a catch and shoot player first as it opens up the drive for him. The And-1 Mixtape version of Poole is so frustrating.
When Poole plays in the system, he's the best player on the team. When he doesn't he's not better than the 7-31 FG Carsen Edwards we saw the other night. He seems all but checked out imo. He's warming up shooting 3s from NBA range, doesn't seem to want to play defense, and hijacks plays to put up a hero ball shot. I'm thinking he's gone after this season even if that's a bad decision for him
Maybe he wants to play in Europe. He’s not playing in the NBA.
Why do we always stand there and dribble passively until 10 seconds left on the shot clock before we try to score?
It's not enough time to recover if your first option is shut down.
These are not in situations where we are trying to kill clock.
If you can get your first option with 10 seconds left, you can get it with 20 seconds left. In the meantime, you have those 10 extra seconds to recover to plan B if you get shut down.
We miss Matthews more than people think, especially defensively.
We're not making any Tournament runs without him back.
His defense and rebounding is even missed more.
Livers hasn’t improved at all this year.
Has anyone made the Beilein jump this year?
Iggy is the only good freshman.
This game reminded me of the one in Minnesota a couple years ago when they had like 40 FTA or around there.
The officiating was bad, but we lost this game ourselves. We had a 9 point lead and blew it. We got out rebounded. We can't allow 20-2 runs. Have to think that the officiating affected the players mentally, but that's still little excuse.
Jordan Poole really pissed me off this game. Hijacked multiple plays to hero ball and put up bad shots. His bad shot selection frequently led to a fast break and defensive break downs either from him or someone else. He was lazy defensively in general. He didn't box out. He just confuses me as a player so much. He'll have one of these games, then Beilein will very clearly have said something to him where the next game he'll only take a handful of shots and be much more passive and smart with his decisions. But then the next game, he'll go right back to his old ways. Really frustrating
On to the fresh air of Tournament time.
A number of years ago, Sports Illustrated did an excellent, very comprehensive analysis of what causes home field/court advantage, looking at all possible factors.
The conclusion: Referee intimidation / referee excitement.
The refs are human and they get caught up in the crowd reactions. There were some recent quotes by referees themselves that admitted as much. It's fun to hear the absolute roar of approval when you call a charge. No human wants to hear the loud angry boos when you make a judgement call against their team.
Basketball is a fast moving game, played by extremely quick and athletic large people in small spaces. There are a ton of 50/50 judgement calls every game that can go either way.
It's not that the refs are biased and want one team to win over the other, its that they are human and they are reacting to the environment.
Give credit where it is due, the Sparty crowd was electric last night. The refs simply got caught up in it. Of course there was no actual 30 - 7 foul discrepancy.
Tournament neutral courts will mitigate this, especially in the earlier rounds.
We still have to learn how to make contested shots to advance in the Tournaments. But at least we won't have the refs as an extra defender.
I remember that article as well and also remember thinking - it is your job to not let that stuff affect you - if you can't handle it you're not doing your job. There are many, many jobs where you would say the same thing about this - it's your job to tune out the noise.
This game reminded me of the title game last year when it quickly became apparent that we would not be allowed to play defense and wold get called for touch and no contact fouls while the other team did not. It clearly affected the way the team played, just as it did last night.
I do wonder if anyone from the B1G reviews these games and sends reports to the officials. I'm guessing not since that would seemingly have an impact on the consistently poor performing officials.
I really can't even count how many B1G BB games I've watched this year (not just U-M games) where the officiating has been really bad and really inconsistent.
When people can clearly see in real-time that players aren't touched and see the "flops" (including stuff like when Winston throws his head back when there is no contact and he gets the call) how is it possible that people who are right in front of the plays can't see it. As I repeatedly state - it's your job to call what you see, not what you think you might have seen or might have happened.
With all that said, I realize this is a very fast game and it's sometimes hard to appreciate that when we're not always there in person, but you should still be calling what you see not what might have happened.
March 10th, 2019 at 11:28 PM ^
Okay. Then can we get this level of home cooking when we are playing at home?
And if home field advantage is everything now... seasons are a foregone conclusion unless the visiting team musters up a blowout?
March 10th, 2019 at 11:19 PM ^
Thanks for making living in Lansing miserable once again. I had to listen to a bar full of juggalos guffaw and taunt Michigan for hours
Just yell Nassar every 15 minutes or so, that’ll quiet them down.
March 10th, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
Lol, no it won’t...
Casually remind them that noted coaching genius Tom Izzo played his 11th man in a NCAA Tournament Game over his lottery pick. And two years before that they got beat by Middle Tennessee.
March 10th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
Does anyone else find that side bar screen that ESPN does for stats and such really annoying?
Not as annoying as waffle man for 5 straight minutes.
Really creepy.
March 10th, 2019 at 11:19 PM ^
March 10th, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^
ya thst sucked bad. Winston is that whole offense, gotta tip my hat to him, if he isn’t going pedal to the metal 100% of the time then they lose a lot more games.
What does that team look like with him not there? That will be interesting to see.
Great season considering it was somewhat of a rebuilding/reloading type year. We all knew we didn’t have those pure shooters before the season and that came to light.
Next year DDJ will need to take that next step as he can shoot the lights out, get that confidence and experience up and he can be that dagger
Let’s go make some noise in the post season.
i hope you're right about DDJ being a good shooter but his 6-27 (1-12 from 3) shooting this year and 1-6 FTs has me a bit concerned.
March 10th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
I thought the team was completely deflated after Teske's second airball… there is no excuse that this shit continues.... whether its maybe Sanderson's workout that weakening his wrist, or whatever, that he and coaches haven't addressed it.. he has been shooting airballs and wildly short shots the last four games.... the team just deflated, and then turns to hero ball from Poole. Teske has become soft, and until he snaps out of this, I consider him the new Donnal, the team killer... start Castleton and maybe itll snap Teske out of this softness.. his D has been atrocious and soft, lately, too.
March 10th, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
This take is bad.
March 10th, 2019 at 12:14 PM ^
Out scored by 18 points from the charity stripe is killing us in these big games - foul trouble puts the hot guy (Iggy) on the bench and we don't have enough off the bench to match MSU. When Iggy went out with foul #2 we were ahead by 12 but scored a measly 3 points in the final 6 minutes of the half. Personally, the refs were targeting Iggy with ticky-tack stuff.
The officiating and Winston won this game for State ... 30 foul shots vs only 7 for UM is just wrong. The phantom walk was the nail in the coffin for me. Turned the channel as it was clearly not going to go our way, yet again.
30 foul shots vs only 7 for UM is just wrong.
A discrepancy like that should be grounds for immediate dismissal for referees.
Especially against a team like Beilein's who is known for not committing fouls. They didn't just suddenly turn into the 80's Bad Boys Pistons in one night.
It says that you as a ref can't handle a big time environment and stay calm and analytical. You let the crowd and the coach influence your calls. That's a no-no at this level.
Refs are human, they will miss things or make mistakes. But when your entire approach and demeanor in a big game environment are flawed from the outset, you need to be doing something else.
March 11th, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^
M-Dog - all of your points can't be repeated enough. It's absolutely correct that mistakes are made but any of us who are more than casual viewers can and do accept when that happens - how many times are we watching the game at a bar and everyone says "I can see how they called that". How many times did that happen Saturday - not much at all.
I've pointed out in other posts the same - if you can't handle a big game with lots of crowd noise and a coach who is notorious for whining about EVERYTHING you should bow out.
There is simply no way to excuse that officiating performance. The sequence at the end when U-M was trying to foul to send them to the line and the refs wouldn't call the foul for several seconds just about sums up that whole game.
It's quite possible that MSU could still have won that game - just would have liked to see a fairly level playing field.
Michigan fans seem to have an easier time accepting a loss that was due to the team's effort and not a screwjob by the refs, but it's not an "either or" thing. Michigan shot poorly in the second half, but the reffing was an absolute travesty. Brian's post-PSU column says it all--Beilein got ejected for talking to the refs like Izzo greets his grandmother. When Dan Dakich is comparing Izzo to Bobby fucking Knight on live TV, you know it's bad. There is no excuse for it and the league should be ashamed.
Michigan outshot MSU by a longshot, but free throws made the difference. Every time Winston drove to the basket and missed, a foul was called. Meanwhile Simpson is getting clobbered and we get nothing. Taking out our top scorer on an incidental bump with 10 minutes to go in the first half was just criminal. The phantom travel on Teske should have been an and-1 and Winston's 4th foul. That was a crucial juncture and frankly it looked like the team just felt defeated after that. Who can blame them, when the reffing is so bad?
There needs to be a push to replace refs with AI. Put sensors in the jerseys and the ball or whatever. But just get rid of these clowns who are terrible at their jobs and have no accountability.
I'll settle for accountability before AI.
March 10th, 2019 at 11:39 PM ^
"Every time Winston drove to the basket and missed, a foul was called."
I would definitely take AI over the clownshow yesterday. Even if the sensors were erratic, inaccurate, and wildly unpredictable.... at least then BOTH TEAMS would be facing the same uncertain events.
March 11th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
Pretty sure that sensors and AI would have picked up the fact that Teske's phantom 3rd foul where Goins pretended to get hit in the face, when Teske's hand came nowhere near it was completely bogus.
If you had to really break things down to that granular a level you can see that that few minutes stretch where Teske was called for a phantom foul and then called for a phantom travel really took the air out. Teske was more tentative on the defensive end at that point as it was clear he thought he'd get called for absolutely anything.
Izzo would have lost his freaking mind if that happened to MSU.
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