2021-22 michigan state #2

3/2/2022 – Michigan 87, Michigan State 70 – 16-12, 10-8 Big Ten

Say what you want about Tom Izzo—please do so loudly and publicly—but you have to give him one thing: he offers satisfaction. You can beat guys like Chris Holtmann and Matt Painter and yeah it's nice to win a basketball game against a good team. They'll talk about what happened and it'll be nice. But at no point will you feel that cosmic justice has been done. You can woof at them and they'll say "he's a good player." They'll probably even mean it.

Not Tom Izzo.

https://t.co/19TJPrlt05 pic.twitter.com/nxsmy3siqq

— Patrick Barron (@BlueBarronPhoto) March 2, 2022

When Hunter Dickinson is dropping 33 and four blocks and woofing like he's going for 70, Tom Izzo will not sit on the sideline in stony silence and then graciously tip his hat in the post-game press conference.

Instead, he will wander onto the court to berate an official because the tall man is being mean. He won't get a technical for this, for reasons, but he will sputter and mewl and yell at his players for betraying him; only then will he descend into the stony silence. When it's clearly time to pout. He will give Dickinson the blow-by in the handshake line he just valorized in the aftermath of the Trohl Center incident. Then in the press conference he will say things like "give them credit, I guess."

Tom Izzo is a delight to beat, because he's a thin-skinned maniac. One time Izzo was getting hammered by Michigan and spent two full minutes of game time pointlessly fouling because he would not give up on the 0.01% chance Michigan would hurl all their free throws into the stands along with their clothes and get called for indecency technicals. This is what I am saying.

To beat Tom Izzo is to watch him rend his clothes and go bug-eyed and threaten to kill an official who will pat him on the head because he's a lovable wee scamp if you're the kind of lunatic who referees college basketball. One day someone will beat him so badly he will lie down and die on a basketball court, out of spite.

BULLETS

Mmm drop coverage. AJ Hoggard only played 11 minutes with leprosy or whatever, but even though MSU's most drop-coverage vulnerable PG wasn't a major factor Michigan still spent the whole game in it and MSU did little against it. Tyson Walker was hesitant to pull up despite having significant off-the-dribble game. In particular, I think he attempted one pull-up three despite Michigan constantly going under screens against him. He is capable:

He just doesn't want to do it much. This was fairly typical:

He has all the room in the world to pull up; he's hitting 55% from three on the year (and was 35% last year on 113 attempts); half of his threes this year are unassisted. It is flat out weird that he's averaging just over 2 3PA per game.

Also:

Instead of an aggressive ball screen coverage "showing" above the level of the screen, tonight Michigan went under almost every ball screen & had Dickinson drop near the paint.

MSU's PGs were reluctant to shoot off the dribble & the coverage was significantly more effective: pic.twitter.com/9qiFqLywv8

— Eric Shapiro (@eric_shap) March 2, 2022

This performance makes the blitzing from game one all the more baffling, but at least that mistake wasn't repeated.

On a night when Michigan desperately needed a win at home against a bitter rival to bolster their NCAA Tournament case, the Wolverines got it in resounding fashion. Hunter Dickinson posted a career high 33 points to lead a seemingly unstoppable Michigan offense that drowned Michigan State with outside shooting and pounded them inside via slicing passes and thumping dunks. The Crisler Center crowd was loud on Tuesday night and Michigan scored a massive victory, staying on the right side of the tournament bubble, downing Michigan State by a score of 87-70. 

The first half started fast right out of the gate. Each team had 11 points on the board less than 3.5 minutes into the game, as neither defense seemed capable of making a stop. During that juncture, a seemingly foreboding development occurred: DeVante' Jones picked up two quick fouls and went straight to the bench. The collective Michigan Twitter existence said "oh no, we can't survive an extended run from Frankie Collins".

Turns out, "we" could. Collins would log 12 minutes in the first half and although didn't score, he dished out four assists and led an offense that functioned surprisingly well with a modified lineup on the floor. He also snagged two boards, and it was during the stretch with Collins in the lineup that Michigan began to clamp down on Michigan State defensively, while continuing to torch the Spartans on offense. 

Michigan thrived in the Frankie minutes [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

In totality, Michigan shot 61% from the field in the first twenty minutes. Their team eFG% was even higher, at 70%. Hunter Dickinson played a big role, at 6/8 from the field for 12 points, but he got plenty of help from his friends. Terrance Williams II was the surprise hero, nailing all three of the three-point attempts he attempted, while Brandon Johns Jr. and Caleb Houstan were 1/1 from beyond the arc. Michigan was 5/8 from three, but they also found buckets inside with ease thanks to Collins' passing and simply poor defense from MSU. On the other end, Michigan State shot under 40% from the field and made only a lone three pointer. Malik Hall led the Spartans in the first half with a measly 5 points and MSU scored just 4 points total in the final 7:30 of the first half. The Wolverines led 44-28 at the break. 

The primary objective for Michigan out of halftime was finding a way to maintain the lead and avoid any of those extended Spartan runs that could make this a competitive game. To accomplish the mission, they turned to Dickinson. MSU never opted to double team the Wolverine big man and against a variety of Spartan defenders, Dickinson feasted. He scored 21 points in the second half on 7/11 from the field. His most famous moments came matched up against Julius Marble II, who he tossed on the grill and char-broiled with silky spin moves towards the basket. 

Michigan's outside shooting started to cool off, but they continued to get easy makes all across the floor. With Collins on the bench and the starter DeVante' Jones back in the game, Michigan played calm and steady basketball protecting that lead. Throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half, the lead oscillated between 15 and 22 points but never got closer. Michigan State finally mounted a surge around the midway point of the half, embarking on a 10-2 run to cut it to 64-51 with just over 9 minutes remaining. Jones followed it up with a three and the two teams played more or less to a draw over the next five minutes. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The last chance for MSU to get back in the game came around the 4.5 minute remaining mark, when an ugly Jones turnover led to an easy dunk to cut the lead to 75-63. Dickinson came to the rescue, with another spin move bucket toasting Marble. Michigan State missed the front end of a one-and-one, Caleb Houstan added a layup, and then a Michigan State offensive foul gave Michigan the ball up 79-63 with only 3:20 to go. An Eli Brooks floater dropped on the ensuing Michigan possession and that more or less wrapped things up. Interim head coach Phil Martelli was able to deploy the garbage time squad in the last minute and the final score read 87-70 Michigan. 

This was a complete and comprehensive offensive performance from Michigan. They shot a scorching 58% from the field, with an identical percentage from three as well. There was never a juncture where offense was difficult, and the reason the Spartans could never mount a run was because the Michigan offense didn't stop scoring. Dickinson will be the story, marvelous (and superb in the taunting department), but nearly every player was checked in offensively. Houstan scored 16 on 4/7 from the field and got to the line on several occasions. Jones and Williams both scored 9 and Eli Brooks added 8, while Moussa Diabate had 6 in semi-limited minutes due to foul trouble. 

[Campredon]

Michigan State had a number of scorers get involved but found no one to be the lead dog. Their leading scorer was Gabe Brown with only 12 and though they shot 46% as a team from the field, it wasn't nearly enough to keep up. Three Spartans ended the game with four fouls, including big men Julius Marble and Mady Sissoko, who struggled to bang around with the Michigan bigs without hacking. 

With the win, the Wolverines move to 16-12 overall, and 10-8 in the conference. Just two regular season games remain, a home game against Iowa on Thursday, and a road game @Ohio State on Sunday afternoon. One more win in the regular season would go a long way towards securing the Michigan tournament resume heading in to next week's B1G Tournament in Indianapolis. The Thursday game against Iowa is scheduled for 9:00 pm EST and is scheduled to be on FS1. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

It's not just who scores more points, but respect for the game. Sportsmanship. Being the bigger man.

And you can’t have one without the other.

Tommy Tantrum's presser is going to be delicious.