Everything MSU was missing during its sluggish effort Sunday against Indiana was there — and more — Wednesday night against No. 8 Xavier. The Spartans brought the energy, excitement and enthusiasm that head coach Suzy Merchant thought was missing Sunday in a dominating 66-53 win against the Musketeers Wednesday night at Breslin Center.
“I told my team once, if not 75 times, that they were going to be very hungry coming into this game,” Xavier head coach Kevin McGuff said. “If we didn’t match their passion or their energy, we were going to be in for a long night. We didn’t. And therefore we got our asses kicked.”
It all started with rebounding for MSU. The Spartans embarrassed Xavier on the glass, picking up 54 rebounds — led by senior center Allyssa DeHaan’s 13 — to the Musketeers’ 30. But MSU went after Xavier’s post players all night, as well.
“We really wanted to attack them,” Merchant said. “We know they’re big and strong but that didn’t mean we couldn’t score in there. We really wanted to attack them that way.”
McGuff said his team was “murdered” on the boards. Xavier’s consistent foul trouble during both halves didn’t help matters. The Musketeers (7-1 overall) were whistled for 25 personal fouls. MSU shot 34 free throws, including 24 in the second half, when 16 points from the line helped the Spartans overcome a 25 percent shooting performance.
DeHaan was MSU’s go-to force the entire game. She finished the night with 22 points and a season-high 13 rebounds, while adding five blocks in 31 minutes. She finished 8-of-10 from the floor, hitting shots of every variety, even hitting a left-handed finger-roll in the first half. In a very physical game, DeHaan and her teammates matched Xavier.
“We started hitting them before they hit us, too, which was big,” DeHaan said. “But we got a taste of that last year, so I kind of knew what we had coming.”
It was a back-and-forth affair to start, but Xavier looked to be pulling ahead, going up 15-10 near the midway point of the first half.
But the Spartans (6-3) stormed back, going on an 18-4 run to take a 28-19 lead. MSU went into halftime up 35-26 — handing Xavier its first halftime deficit of the season.
The Spartans got big minutes from sophomore forward Taja Wilson in the first half. She finished with six points and five rebounds, both season highs. Merchant brought Wilson in to defend Xavier’s leading scorer, forward Amber Harris, who scored eight of her team’s first 10 points.
Although MSU went into halftime with a nine-point lead, the Musketeers stormed out of the gates in the second half, scoring five points in the opening 46 seconds to cut it to 35-31 and force Merchant to call time-out.
MSU responded to Merchant’s talk, going on a 7-2 run to extend the lead back to nine, 42-33.
The Musketeers would continue to battle, but the Spartans had an answer each and every time.
“We really just held our composure,” DeHaan said. “We had a totally different air about us than we did last game, which is something we need to bring to every game, no matter our competition.”
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