THE REVIEW: MSU v IOWA

SPARTANS ROLL HAPLESS

HAWKEYES

Michigan State played with focus and precision at both ends of the court Tuesday night at the Breslin Center, beating the Iowa Hawkeyes in the process by a 95-61 count.  The game wasn't actually even that close, as the Spartans had built a lead well over 40 points before allowing walk-ons to finish out the game.  MSU had pretty much everything cooking in this game.  The Spartans ran the floor repeatedly against Iowa, scoring as much in transition as they have in any game this season.  They were active on defense, racking up 16 steals, and they punished Iowa turnovers to the tune of 33 points.  The Green and White also hit a season high 10 threes in this game and shot 62% from the floor for the game.  In short, it was about as obvious an example of domination as you'll find at the major college level.  Iowa never had a chance.

REVISITING THE 5 KEYS:

Back On The Beam – MSU will have been off for a week, their longest break of the season thus far.  Normally, this sort of period is where Izzo teams tend to make their biggest strides, but given how well the Spartans have been playing, you have to hope that they can simply maintain the overall sharpness of their recent play at both ends of the court.

RESULT – You couldn't ask for a better response from the Spartans.  They were sharp and focused at both ends of the floor in this game.  MSU shot the ball extremely well, in large part  a function of exceptional ball movement.  Defensively, while occasionally breaking down, MSU was active and mostly solid over 40 minutes, holding the Hawks well under 40% from the floor and under 30% from deep.

Punish Them – Iowa likes to play fast these days.  That should be tailor-made for  a Spartan team that has the athletes and finishers to excel in the transition game if given the opportunity. The key is to be efficient and not allow the Hawks' occasional forays into helter-skelter play to suck you down with them.

RESULT – Bingo.  MSU ran early and often, finding as much success in their transition game as at any time in the last several years IMO.  The Spartans did a great job of getting the ball up the floor quickly, often via the pass rather than the dribble, and they were aggressive and strong in finishing at the rim.

Post – MSU continues to do a great job of both getting the ball into the post and finishing when the opportunities present themselves.  Iowa is a small team on the interior and MSU should be able to convert at a very strong clip if they're as diligent in getting the ball inside as they've been most of the time this season.

RESULT – Again, great job.  MSU played inside out to great effect in this game, on those occasions where Iowa could manage to force them into half court sets. Derrick Nix in     particular had some great sequences in the first half where he found shooters on the perimeter with smart, well executed kick outs.  Good things almost always happen when you have a balanced approach to your offense and MSU keeps proving that point.

Recognition – Iowa likes to switch a lot between man and zone looks defensively.  That puts a responsibility on the Spartans, particularly Appling and Trice as the point guards and Green as the chief conduit through whom so much of the MSU offense flows, to recognize those shifts early and get their teammates into the proper sets.  I suspect we'll see a lot of switching in an attempt to confuse and/or slow down the Spartans, as I think Iowa's staff has to recognize they can't really expect to lock down MSU if they're playing them straight up.

RESULT – No real problem here.  Iowa was finding itself defending in transition so often that their switching half court defenses never really had much of an impact, but on the few occasions MSU did see zone, the Spartans seemed to handle it reasonably well. Again, ball movement was outstanding from the Spartans, against anything Iowa tried to throw at them.

Keep Your Head – One thing I've noticed about Iowa is that their energy and frenetic style of play at both ends tends to produce some chippy play.  It's important for MSU to keep cool even in the face of what could be perceived to be occasional cheap shots and unnecessarily rough play. Against an outmanned opponent, you don't want to give them any easy chances to hang in a game or gain momentum.

RESULT – Things did get chippy in this one. Derrick Nix got a technical for excessive staring and their was a fair amount of talking going on both ways.  Fortunately, things didn't get really amped up in this regard until the game was well in hand for the Spartans.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

THE GOOD:

Run, Run, Run – MSU was just fantastic offensively tonight, and one of the ways in which they were impressive is how they pushed the ball consistently throughout the game.  Appling was tremendous in that regard, but MSU in general did a great job in getting the ball ahead quickly via long outlet passes.  Iowa was under pressure constantly.

Ball Movement – 25 assists is a pretty good night's work no matter who the opponent is.  MSU continued to do what they've done all season; pass up good shots for great ones, play unselfishly, and maximize what they can do on offense via smart passing and man movement.

Activity – I thought MSU played hard and with purpose from the opening tap.  Often times when you see an upset in a game like this, it's because the favorite doesn't take things seriously and doesn't match the underdog's intensity.  That didn't happen in this game.  Iowa scraps but MSU matched them pretty much throughout in terms of effort.  16 steals is just the most obvious stat speaking to MSU's intensity and effort but it wasn't the only one.

Kids – This was a nice, confidence building game for MSU's four freshmen (the fifth, Russell Byrd, did not dress due to illness).  Dawson only had 6 points and 4 boards, but his 3 assists and 3 steals (one of the feeds of the no-look variety) made clear how active he was.  Trice had his best game in weeks, scoring 10 points and hitting a pair of threes.  Gauna went 2-3 from the floor in limited minutes.  The guy who made the biggest impact though was Brandan Kearney. The 6'6” freshman guard had a sequence late in the first half which was perhaps the most impressive he's shown all season.  He made two great defensive plays sandwiching  a lob to Green for a dunk.  He also had a great shake move, freeing himself up for a smooth looking three in the second half.  In all, his defensive presence is what's getting him a larger role, though, and he did a great job on that end in this one.

Shooting – Largely a function of #2, but still, when you hit 62% from the floor and better than 50% from deep against anyone, you've done a job.

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Rebounding – Particularly defensive rebounding, where MSU gave up 18 offensive boards to the Hawkeyes.   Had they done a better job there, they would have been even better in transition than they were.  This was really the only area where MSU can feel a bit disappointed in their execution.

MSU moves to 4-0 with the victory and remains the sole unbeaten in conference play.  The Spartans will hit the road again on Saturday afternoon, paying a visit to Northwestern.  The Cats are once again seen as a team with the potential to earn the first NCAA  bid in school history, but some tough early losses in conference play and a brutal stretch of games about to commence suggests that the Cats might already be in “must win” territory.  Historically, MSU has fared very well in Evanston under Izzo, so there's reason to think the Spartans can remain unbeaten heading into what is shaping up to be a huge game at Crisler against Michigan next Tuesday night.