Michigan State Basketball: What went wrong in loss to Wisconsin?

Low post defense wasn’t where it needed to be

The last time I spoke about the Wisconsin Badgers, I mentioned how their opponent (who was the Rhode Island Rams) struggled to defend them down low all game long. The Badgers love to get the ball inside to their bigs (or even their guards sometimes), which is why their opponents cannot sit behind them continuously and expect positive results to come their way.

It was evident on Friday that Michigan State was perfectly fine with allowing Wisconsin’s bigs/guards to gain the advantage down low, and then hoping that the Badgers would fail to finish at the rim on various occasions, after completing powerful post moves. To the Spartans’ dismay, The Badgers were able to successfully fire crisp passes into the low post, and watch their bigs/guards abuse any Michigan State defender that was in their way.

With around 12 minutes to play in the second-half, Micah Potter picked up his dribble on the left-wing and decided to look in the direction of Tyler Wahl, who was establishing position near the left block (Potter tried to get the ball to D’Mitrik Trice, but Aaron Henry did a great job denying him).

When Wahl received the ball he held it for a second, got a sense of how his defender (who was Rocket Watts) was guarding him, took three dribbles while getting straight into the chest of Watts (causing him to retreat), turned to his left while making contact with Watts so that he could clear some space for himself, and finished over the top of Watts with his right hand.

I can almost guarantee you that Tom Izzo was furious with Watts after that play concluded because Watts did not even try to put up a decent fight in the low post, even though Wahl is definitely the stronger player between the two.

Looking at the play again, I can see why Watts didn’t fully trust the backside help to be there on time if he has gotten in front of Wahl, but that doesn’t mean that Watts should have surrendered after he got pinned on Wahl’s backside.

Perhaps if Watts had continued to try and find different ways to get around Wahl, one of his teammates (preferably Gabe Brown since he was the closest player to the paint on the right side of the floor) would have turned and gotten themselves in position to either meet Wahl as soon as he caught a floating pass from Micah Potter, or steal Potter’s pass if they had arrived in help side position before the ball was even in the air.

There was another possession in the second-half when a Michigan State defender never really attempted to front their man, after initially allowing him to gain the best position in the low post. With just under five minutes to play in the ball game, Aleem Ford caught the ball on the left-wing, noticed that Brad Davison was able to seal his defender off rather quickly (who was Aaron Henry) and keep him in the same hopeless spot, which prompted Ford to deliver the ball into Davison.

As soon as Davison received the ball, he faked like he was going to sling the ball over to a cutting Jonathan Davis, took five strong dribbles to his right, pump-faked to try and get Henry off his feet (which did not work), initiated contact with Henry in the middle of the paint, and connected on a difficult jumper while falling to the floor.

Now, I understand that Henry played solid post defense once Davison started to attack him, but the Badgers know how to operate down low under any circumstance, which is why Henry would have been better off forcing Davison to catch a pass while he was getting fronted, and finish despite there being a defender ready to disrupt him at the rim.

Wisconsin’s roster may not be full of elite athletes, but it is full of guys who understand how to wear down their opponents and convert at the basket by any means necessary. Sure, Davison did a great job of getting low and moving his feet in order to get in front of Henry, but Henry shouldn’t have underestimated Davison’s ability to punish him for choosing comfort over hard work.

Michigan State doesn’t have to face off against the Badgers again in the regular season, but if they encounter Wisconsin in the Big 10 tournament, the Spartans will have to do a better job of making Wisconsin’s bigs’/guards’ lives a lot more difficult in the low post, if they want to take down the Badgers.