COLUMBUS, Ohio — So much has changed in a year.
At the start of 2024, Michigan State Basketball I couldn’t figure out how to win in the Big Ten. The Spartans opened conference play with four losses in their first five games, including three on the road after losing the first game at home to Wisconsin.
These problems persisted as MSU limped to a 3-7 finish in road games and a 10-10 Big Ten record. Tom Izzo’s team also struggled to maintain leads in the second half, including blowing a double-digit lead and losing at home to Ohio State last February.
With Friday night’s dominating 69-62 win over the Buckeyes, the 15th-ranked Spartans are already perfect in two Big Ten road games this season. They opened conference play a month earlier with a road victory at Minnesota. And the change is clear to everyone who was on last year’s team.
Senior captain Jaden Akins immediately told his teammates when they returned to the Value City Arena locker room for their postgame debrief: A year ago, he reasoned, MSU “would have found ways to lose matches like this.”
“Everyone is on a mission this year,” sophomore forward Xavier Booker said Friday night. “No one liked the way our season went last year, from start to finish. … There were so many games where we could have closed it out and won, but we didn’t, and I feel like that’s kind of on everyone’s mind.
“We don’t want to go back to what we did last year, we want to finish games. And that’s what we did today.
On Friday night, MSU built a 14-point lead over the Buckeyes early in the second half with eight straight points from senior center Szymon Zapala – a dunk to end the first half, then three buckets with two more jams to start the second.
After a timeout from coach Jake Diebler, OSU responded with a 15-2 blowout over a span of nearly 10 minutes to take a one-point lead. The Spartans turned the ball over seven times, leading to eight of those points by the Buckeyes.
“There were several things that happened during that time,” Izzo said. “We had some big turnovers, some for touchdowns. You can’t even defend (the Buckeyes). They got two offensive rebounds, they scored a 3 and a two on that. I didn’t think our effort was very good there, I was disappointed with it.
But for two timeouts, one called by Izzo with 11:58 left after a casual pass from Frankie Fidler to Zapala was stolen by Sean Stewart for a breakaway dunk and the media timeout with 7:59 to play, Izzo felt his team’s calm in the face of potential disaster.
The players encouraged each other rather than pointing fingers. They had clearly been through this situation before and knew what it took to resolve their problems. And the Spartans, who had made 16 turnovers up to that point, didn’t give it up again.
“Just our unit. I don’t know,” said Akins, whose 14 points extended his double-digit scoring streak to five straight games. “We’re really a tight unit, and we stay calm during their runs and feel confident throughout the game.”
Booker, who Izzo challenged to attack the ball after a period of passive play, picked up a loose ball and drove the length of the court and finished through contact for a layup, then made the free throw. Jase Richardson, who struggled most of the night, delivered a kick pass to Tre Holloman for a deflating Buckeye 3-pointer. Then Jeremy Fears Jr. stabbed the paint and returned a pass to Booker for a two-handed dunk to cap the 8-0 run and put the momentum back in MSU’s favor for good.
“When the pressure got to us, we didn’t hesitate,” said Booker, who had nine points. “Obviously the pressure hampered us a bit, but we overcame it and finished the match. And that was one of our difficulties last year, finishing games. So this year, one of the coach’s big goals is to just finish games, especially in tight situations.
Diebler said he felt the Spartans showed the type of determination he’s trying to bring to his inexperienced team.
“A lot of these guys have played a lot of games together, and they’ve been in this situation before,” Diebler said of MSU. “And that’s been the challenge for us all season, accelerating that growth. I think there is a lot of truth in what the Spartans say.
MSU (12-2, 3-0 Big Ten) looks to extend its perfect Big Ten start and seven-game winning streak Thursday with the visit of league newest member Washington (10-4, 1-2) . Tip-off on Big Ten Network will take place at 8 p.m. at the Breslin Center, where Izzo’s team has won all seven games so far this season. The two losses took place on neutral grounds, against Kansas during the Champions Classic and against Memphis at the Maui Invitational.
The Spartans will also look to maintain their impeccable road record Sunday when they visit Northwestern (information TBD). They also have bicoastal road games coming up, first on January 25 against Rutgers at Madison Square Garden in New York, with a long swing in Los Angeles following early next month on February 1 at USC and on February 4 at UCLA. Five of MSU’s final nine games will be at home, although tough U-turn trips will continue at Illinois, Michigan, Maryland and Iowa over the final month.
“It’s tough to win on the road, no matter where you play,” Zapala said after his 15-point game at OSU. “The Big Ten, to (win) a championship, you have to take care of business at home and then you have to find a way to win on the road. We found a way to win today.
Izzo said he’s “growing” but “not there yet” on how he thinks this team stacks up in terms of mental and physical toughness.
“I think physically, (the Buckeyes) really came after us today. … Mentally, I think we’re probably better mentally than physically. And we weren’t bad at either one,” he said. he declared. “We are making progress in both.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next game
No. 15 Michigan State (12-2, 3-0 Big Ten) vs. Washington (10-4, 1-2)
Trick : 8 p.m. Thursday; Breslin Center, East Lansing
Television/radio: Big Ten Network; WJIM-AM (1240), WMMQ-AM (94.9)
This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball: Spartans show they can close out games
