Instant Recap: MSU Rallies to Defeat Indiana 81-60

This Monday, January 13th, marked the official end of the holidays for Michigan State students, as they returned to campus for the spring semester. Often times the end of the holidays and re-starting of school can bring about a brutal, sluggish start to the New Year, adjusting from the leisurely pace of winter break. The Michigan State Basketball Spartans seemed to have a bit of those end-of-holiday blues in the first half tonight against Indiana. Well, that goes for everyone except Jeremy Fears. If the rest of the Spartans rolled out of bed late and groaned their way to pick up their second semester syllabus, Fears was bright eyed and bushy-tailed, arriving early to grab a front-row seat in his lecture hall and introduce himself to his new professors. He scored the first ten points for MSU, and held the line while the rest of his teammates were still grabbing their morning coffees. Jeremy finished the night with an impressive statline of 23 points and 10 assists, and once the rest of the class decided to show up, Michigan State was able to roll to a commanding 81-60 victory over the Indiana Hoosiers. Let’s recap. 

Both teams came out of the gate firing from deep, with 10 of the first 11 field goals of the game coming from three-point land. IU went 2 for their first 4; while for MSU, Jeremy Fears knocked down the lone three in a 1-8 start from long range en route to his aforementioned first 10 Spartan points of the game. After hitting a layup to knot the score at 8, Indiana’s Sam Alexis kicked off a quick 6-0 run for the visitors with a dunk at the 14:14 mark, a run that would extend into 9-2 stretch. A pair of MSU turnovers helped fuel the IU run, along with an early second foul for Carson Cooper, sending him to the bench for the remainder of the half. 

Jaxon Kohler finally decided to join in on the scoring with a 3 point field goal of his own with 10:11 left in the half, and the Spartans were finally able to get consecutive defensive stops against Indiana and their slip-screen heavy offense, holding the score at 17-15 in favor of the Hoosiers. Both squads would trade buckets for the next couple minutes, with the majority of Spartan production coming once again thanks to PG Jeremy Fears. Jeremy would score the 17th of his 19 first half points at the 5:50 mark, making it a one point game at MSU 21- IU 22. Lamar Wilkerson immediately turned it back over with a traveling violation, and the Spartans took advantage with a hustle play from Kur Teng leading to a Jordan Scott three pointer to take the lead at 24-22. MSU never looked back. 

Teng’s hustle earned him a spot on the court for the rest of the 1H, and it paid off as he was able to catch fire and knock down two trey balls and a long two in the last four minutes of the half. The Spartans were able to demonstrate strong offensive rebounding, earning several second chance points thanks to Jaxon Kohler, picking up the slack inside for Cooper, his partner in crime, relegated to the bench. Not the prettiest half, but State carried a 39-32 lead into the halfway point of this game. 

The second half got off to a back and forth start, with Lamar Wilkerson opening up scoring with a long ball, reminding the Breslin Center crowd that he is in fact leading the Big Ten in points per game. The Spartans answered back with a pair of Kohler free throws and Coen Carr’s first points of the night on a midrange pull up, while Connor Enright and Tucker DeVries would hit jumpers of their own to keep the game within reach. 

MSU would once again trade baskets with the Hoosiers (namely, Wilkerson) until the 11:19 mark of the second half. Indiana had fought hard to keep the game tied at 53, but the always timely Jordan Scott would give the Spartans back the lead with a free throw line jump shot, and then it was time for the two most athletic players on the court to show off. 

Cam Ward subbed in for Michigan State and instantly delivered with his patented “grown man” and-one. The Breslin crowd started to sense it. After knocking down his free throw, a Jaxon Kohler steal led to a Coen Carr tomahawk slam, and a seven point lead. The Breslin crowd was on its feet, and it seemed as if the depth of MSU had finally worn down the Hoosiers. Right they were. MSU had found their rhythm, and would stretch the run into a 19-0 sequence, and take Indiana out of the game, with nearly everyone contributing. Scott knocked down another three. Kohler continued to be his double-double self. Cooper finally got in the mix with points from the charity stripe. And orchestrating it all was the floor general, Jeremy Fears. 

Indiana would finally get another shot to fall with 4:34 remaining to play, but 55-72 quickly turned into 55-81 with Michigan State tacking on another 9 points. IU mustered five more points from a Nick Dorn three, and a Trent Sisly slam, but it was too little too late. Nothing could stop the Walton twins and Nick Sanders from getting some conference play minutes, as State would take home the 81-60 victory, and improve to 15-2 (5-1) on the season. 

Takeaways 

• This team will go as far as Jeremy Fears can take them. When the Spartan offense is firing on all cylinders, running in transition, throwing lobs and knocking down outside shots, it is easy to notice the plethora of assists from Fears and give him props. But tonight in East Lansing, it was Fears who single-handedly kept the first half Spartans in the game. Robbie Hummel on the Peacock broadcast remarked that Izzo might have challenged Jeremy to be more assertive on offense. That he was. Despite poor offensive shooting, Fears knocked down floaters, layups, and mid range shots when the rest of State’s offense couldn’t get anything going. Fears kept Michigan State hanging tough until the rest of his teammates finally came around. 
• Teng and Scott continue to improve. As Tom Izzo mentioned in his postgame interview, “We’re getting better, but we’re getting better slowly”. This is certainly the case with the pair of young Spartans. While it is amazing the difference it makes for the MSU offensive attack when Kur and Jordan are knocking down shots from the outside, the hustle plays provided by these two wings made a huge impact throughout tonight’s game. They both snuck into double digits with 11 points apiece, and shot a combined 8-16 from three. 
• Halftime adjustments on defense made the difference. Early on, Indiana’s style of five-out, spaced out, NBA-style basketball seemed to be effective. Nearly every player on their team can shoot the long ball, and Izzo and company decided to combat this by “hedging” each screen aggressively. However, IU Coach Darian DeVries came prepared, and drew up a variety of quick slip screens to the basket that used MSU’s constant hedging against them. While it was not immediately evident early in the second period, it began to show on State’s 19-0 run the improved help side defense from off-ball defenders, preventing easy feeds to slicing Hoosiers coming off of high slip screens. Once Michigan State cut off the water on IU’s slips, it was lights out for the squad from Bloomington.