March Madness: What Happened to Michigan State?

In what has become the common theme in this years tournament, the 3-seeded Michigan State Spartan’s were upset in the round-of-32 by (11) Syracuse. The 55-53 loss marks the end of a once-promising season.

When you are a team with the talent of Michigan State, chances are you win when you outbound your opponent by 21. Syracuse made just one 3-pointer and had a grand total of 3 assists. The Spartan’s played good defense and forced Syracuse into a lot of bad possessions, yet still could not find a way to win.

Shot Selection

Syracuse and their zone kept the Spartan’s in flux all afternoon. Tom Izzo and the offense refused to make adjustments, deciding to settle for long jump-shots all afternoon instead. Shot selection was a huge issue and it translated to 25% shooting in the loss.

Michigan State took more than half their shots from beyond the arc, 37 attempts, and made 8 (22%). Leading the way was Miles Bridges who has consistently settled for jump-shots all season long, one of the more frustrating trends of the season.

Coaching

Against a tough Syracuse zone, Bridges should have played in the middle to force the defense to collapse on him. Instead, Izzo opted to play Ben Carter for 23 minutes, a Senior who averaged less than 1 point per game this season, in the high post.

Jaren Jackson Jr, likely to be a top-5 pick in the upcoming NBA draft, played just 15 minutes in the game. He found himself in foul trouble early, but Izzo purposely went with guys like Carter and Nick Ward late. Jackson Jr is able to affect the game in so many ways, it was puzzling to watch him sit on the bench for more than half the contest.

There has to come to a point in a game, as a coach, when you realize the things you’re doing on offense are not working. The offensive sets were dry and resulted in lots of dribbling. To beat the zone you need to move the ball.

Offense

Michigan State has been too reliant on their outside shooting for spurts this year. For a team that has no great 3-point shooters, never mind multiple, that’s a problem. This came full circle in the loss where Cassius Winston, Joshua Langford, and Bridges all looked content hoisting 3’s.

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The offense made no consistent effort to penetrate the paint and it made Syracuse’s job much easier on the defensive end. Michigan State missed 29 3-point shots and made just 9 field goals inside the arc. To put it simply, It’s baffling they only lost by 2 points.