Michigan State hitting on all cylinders heading into Big Ten Tournament
Matt Charboneau
East Lansing — Tom Izzo was rattling off some offensive numbers this week and seemed to amaze himself as he was going down the list.
It was his effort to sum up what Michigan State had done over the final five games of the regular season, turning what, at times, was a stagnant offense into one of the best in the Big Ten and beyond. The Spartans scored 80 or more in four of those games, the fifth a 72-point showing in a loss at Michigan.
And as good as the overall numbers were — Michigan State is shooting 53.8% from 3-point range over that five-game span — the individual numbers were just as impressive.
“Tyson (Walker) is shooting 53% (field goals), 52 (on 3-pointers) and 86% (at the free-throw line),” Izzo said. “(Joey) Hauser is 53, 56 and 91. (A.J.) Hoggard is 44, 50 and 86. (Jaden) Akins is 49, 62 from the three and 71. Malik Hall is 45, 43 from the three and 1,000.
“I mean, we’re shooting over 50%, and almost 54 from the three and 85 from the line. Those are world-class offensive stats, some that we've never seen here.”
And it has Michigan State (19-11, 11-8 Big Ten) rolling heading into this week’s conference tournament in Chicago, with the Spartans earning the double-bye as the No. 4 seed and opening play Friday against the winner of No. 5 Iowa and the winner from Wednesday’s matchup between No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 13 Ohio State.
“I think it’s just confidence,” said Hauser, who missed only one shot against Ohio State and is 13-for-18 from 3-point range over the last three games. “We’ve had a lot of guys who shot it well of late, and everybody's instilling confidence in one another. So, just keep shooting the thing. I mean, Jaden has been shooting and Tyson has been shooting; I've been shooting well. A.J. has knocked down some shots and got some good looks.
“The ball movement probably has been the one thing that we've gotten a lot better at, and that's the reason we've got open shots. But man, it's confidence, too.”
There’s no doubt the confidence is at a high level, but the ball movement can’t be discounted. Often this season, when the Spartans have struggled to score, the ball sticks and leads to a bad shot or a contested shot.
Over the last few weeks, though, that has changed. Michigan State has averaged just more than 16 assists per game this season and against Ohio State, it assisted on 17 of 29 baskets. Much of that can be attributed to Hoggard, who has upped his game, highlighted by a career-high 14 assists in the win at Nebraska.
“We really harped on ball movement,” Izzo said. “We just felt like we were dribbling the ball to death. So, we talked about moving the ball and we talked about getting our break going a little bit better, and A.J. has done a better job of that. We talked about getting to the free-throw line, and we've done a better job of it.”
And, as one player makes shots, so does another.
Hauser and Walker have been at the top of their games most of the season, but over the past few weeks, Akins has taken off, Hoggard is making more shots and Hall is starting to look more confident, after he missed 11 games because of a foot injury.
Akins, in particular, has taken a big leap.
He’s been a 40% or better shooter from 3-point range all season, but in the last five games that’s taken a big jump, as he’s 15-for-24 (62.5%). Akins has scored in double figures in each of the last three games, including a career-high 21 at Iowa.
“Jaden is coming into form, in general,” Izzo said. “Malik gives us something. He is not quite there yet, but when you have one more guy to guard, it leaves someone open, whether it’s Tyson or Joey, and because A.J. is moving the ball better and doing some better things, that’s a plus there too.”
In other words, Michigan State has become a tougher team to guard.
“It’s extremely tough,” Hauser said. “You’ve got Tyson, he can take it off the bounce like Jaden. And A.J., when you’ve got shooters, it opens up the floor for him. Those guys do a great job finding us, so right now, we’re really playing well and we’ve got to carry that into the Big Ten tournament.
“And postseason play is going to be a lot about defense. So, that's where we’ve got to kind of focus our efforts.”
And as good as the offense has been, fixing the defense has clearly been the point of emphasis this week, because as Michigan State has taken off on offense, its defense has headed in the wrong direction.
In the same five-game stretch, the Spartans are allowing 81.2 points per game, and all five opponents have averaged more than a point per possession. Some of the numbers are skewed because of the Iowa game that was tied at 101 at the end of regulation and went to overtime, but the overall trend is not positive for Michigan State.
And though some teams have simply made a lot of tough shots — see the final minute of the Iowa game — there’s no doubt the Spartans need to shore things up if they expect to have a successful week in Chicago and beyond.
“It’s just locking in and playing attention,” Hauser said. “I think we get a little bit lazy sometimes. Sometimes, we're scoring the ball so well, you think you’re just going to outscore the other team. But, we were so good early in the year, especially defending the 3-point line. We just kind of got lazy a little bit.
“So, we've got to lock that back in and we've worked on stuff to kind of fine-tune it. We’ll get back to that.”
Twitter: @mattcharboneau