Michigan State rides 'calling card' of defense past New Mexico, back to NCAA Sweet 16
CLEVELAND — There's a constant within the success the Michigan State men's basketball program has achieved through the years. It's that roll-up-your-sleeves defensive intensity.
There's another constant for which the Spartans have grown accustomed over the last quarter of a century. That's playing on the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
The former showed itself when Michigan State needed it most during Sunday evening's second-round game against New Mexico at Rocket Arena. That led to a 71-63 win over the Lobos that sent the Spartans to the Sweet 16 after a year's absence.
"Obviously defense is one of our calling cards," Michigan State redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. said. "We don't have, I don't really think technically you would say star players or stuff of that nature. We got a team effort. … We just got a team effort, so if we all play defense then that's even better."
The thing about Michigan State's defense is that it's the spark plug that ignites the offense as well. The engine was struggling to ignite through the first half, especially the first 10 minutes as New Mexico opened up its largest lead of the game at 24-14 on Donovan Dent's jumper with 9:10 remaining.
That's when the engine started to turn over for the Spartans. Once it got going, it carried Michigan State all the way to next Friday's 7:09 p.m. South region semifinal against Ole Miss in Atlanta.
"Second half [of the first half], towards the last 10 minutes I think, was it some of our best basketball, some of our best defensive basketball," Fears said. "First half was rough. We gave up a lot of easy layups and a lot of easy shots. … They got off to a hot start and, second half, we really just kind of flipped the switch, which we can't — you got to start early — but at the same time, just proud of the guys when it matter, they stepped up."
Michigan State went from down 10 to up 31-29 at halftime. The Spartans limited the Lobos to just two field goals over the final 9:10 of the half, setting the stage for the second half, which is when they took over.
After scoring just five points off New Mexico turnovers in the first half, they had 12 in the second half. Michigan State used that to turn a 51-51 tie with 7:39 remaining into a lead that twice swelled to 10 points on Jase Richardson free throws.
New Mexico only turned the ball over 10 times in the game, with five in each half. However, three were over that final 7:39.
"I mean, getting stops is our calling card to our transition," Michigan State senior forward Frankie Fidler said. "So when we defend and rebound we can run."
New Mexico came into the game ranked 19th in KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency, compared to Michigan State's No. 5 ranking. The Lobos made it difficult early on for the Spartans to get out and run, in part because they were both taking care of the ball and making shots.
Michigan State is going to see a similarly profiled type of team in the Sweet 16 in the SEC's Rebels. Ole Miss is 21st in defensive efficiency, but much better offensively — ranked 24th — than 75th-ranked New Mexico.
The Spartans, though, have a couple of things going for them. One is their own defensive excellence, which was on display Sunday night.
The other? Coach Tom Izzo, who tied former Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim for No. 4 on most NCAA Tournament wins with 58 and will be making his 16th Sweet 16 appearance as the program's leader.
"We're getting back to the Sweet 16, but we know the work's not done," said Spartans freshman Jase Richardson, whose dad, Jason, was a freshman on the 2000 Michigan State championship team that started its run in Cleveland. "We got a tough Ole Miss team coming up, and we know that they're going to be physical with us. So we know we got to come in and play as hard as possible."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Michigan State rides program 'calling card' back to Sweet 16
| 3d 12:56 AM ET ago |
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