How Michigan State plans to get rolling in transition vs. Indiana

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Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch, Detroit Free Press / LSJ MSU beat writer Chris Solari and Free Press columnist Shawn Windsor dissect the Spartans' 82-72 home loss to the Wolverines and analyze the future of this MSU team. Graham Couch / Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo says Michigan State’s fast-break offense is “who we are.”

Yet the ninth-ranked Spartans have struggled to push the pace during Big Ten play this season. And it has been because of what is going wrong at both ends of the court.

“They’re fully capable of running. They did it earlier in the year,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said Thursday on The Mad Dog Show in Lansing (730-AM). “They’re still getting some opportunities. But you have to get stops and rebounds in order to be able to run. And right now, Michigan State hasn’t been consistently doing that.”

Getting out and running more effectively has been the big push for Izzo this week as MSU prepares to host Indiana on Friday night at Breslin Center (7 p.m./Fox Sports 1).

The Spartans (16-3, 4-2) have just 31 fast-break points in six Big Ten games, including just two in Saturday’s 82-72 home loss to Michigan. Izzo said Tuesday he believes they have become stagnant on offense, which means defenses have been able to hem them into more of a half-court offensive team.

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It has allowed opponents to run a number of double-teams at forward Nick Ward from a variety of angles, and Ward has not been posting up nearly as deep in the paint. The Wolverines’ perimeter defense also forced MSU’s offense to start farther away from the basket, helping to pester the Spartans’ guards and create 18 turnovers that turned into 27 points.

“When we run, they can’t double-team me and do anything in the paint,” Ward said. “It’d be me and another big one-on-one. … (Spacing) can be an issue if we’re in too close to each other or we’re out too far. If they double me, I can’t pass out to nobody because everybody is out so far. But it can hurt if we’re too close because they can sag in the paint.”

Izzo said Ward’s struggles with double-teams are partly his own fault for not posting up lower on the blocks, but also partly because of his team's lack of running in transition.

“Teams definitely strategize against it, because that’s a big part of our offense. But usually, if you just keep pushing at them, it breaks down,” sophomore point guard Cassius Winston said. “That’s how we get it going a lot of times, so that’s on us to know we just gotta keep pushing it at them.

“You can see the difference in the things we’re doing – not running lanes hard because we’re not pushing the ball ahead, not throwing the ball ahead well enough. Things like that, all types of things, you can sense and see in watching the film.”

While the Spartans still rank first in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (34.9) and 22nd in scoring defense (64 points allowed per game), they have not been as good in their recent three-game stretch – losses to Ohio State and Michigan, and an overtime win over Rutgers. The Buckeyes shot 52.5 percent, the highest  MSU has allowed this season, and both the Wolverines and Scarlet Knights nudged past 40 percent. Only three teams in nonconference play – Stony Brook, Notre Dame and Long Beach State – were able to do that, though none eclipsed 45 percent.

In their last three games, the Spartans also have committed 43 turnovers which led to 46 points. With the lack of a break, most have come in the half-court offense. They are committing 13.9 turnovers per game this season, and they rank 13th in Big Ten games with a minus-3.2 turnover margin.

That is another big problem with establishing the run game, Bilas said.

“Anytime a team like Michigan State coughs the ball up as often as they have been, that’s a shot that they don’t get, an opportunity for a foul that they don’t get and an opportunity for an offensive rebound they don’t get. Those are three really good things you’re giving away by giving up the ball,” Bilas said. “And that’s been something Michigan State has been fighting for a period of years now. This isn’t a new thing. …

“They’re not getting stops and they’re turning the ball over. I think that’s a big problem.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!