Men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo has called the Spartans a good, but not great, basketball team several times this season.
With a 15-7 overall record and a few losses MSU certainly would like to forget, that’s a fair assessment. Or a bit of a stretch, depending on who you ask.
But midway through Big Ten season, the Spartans are showing signs of wanting to change the season narrative. No, they are still far from a great team. But after Sunday’s 76-66 win over U-M at Breslin Center, the Spartans are 6-3 overall in the Big Ten conference — tied with five different teams and behind first place No. 5 Wisconsin.
It would be easy to mark points off of Sunday’s overtime win over U-M. The Wolverines were without junior guard Caris LeVert, who is out for the season, and sophomore guard Derrick Walton Jr., who is struggling with a toe injury.
Yet thanks to great coaching by head coach John Beilein, U-M had won three of their previous four games, with the lone loss coming against Wisconsin in overtime.
MSU’s bounce-back win against U-M is a definite step forward. It saw junior guard Bryn Forbes dive for loose balls and hit back-breaking corner 3-pointers, Valentine score and facilitate to the best of his ability, and senior guard Travis Trice shake off a slow start to keep the offense flowing in the second half.
The win featured Matt Costello block layups and 3-point attempts and pull down key offensive rebounds, Dawson run the court like a mad man and the Spartans shoot 71.4 percent in the second half after shooting 29.0 percent in the first half.
“We just had guys wanting to make stops and wanting to make the plays,” Valentine said. “Bryn dove on the floor, which he really doesn’t do. Bryn is rebounding, playing defense as hard as he can. Travis really turned it up. Spike was going wherever he wanted those last few minutes. I think those guys made the difference.”
After the game, Izzo said the Spartans found a way to win a game they really needed to win. With eight games left in conference play, MSU needs to show that Sunday’s win wasn’t just a result of not wanting to give up a home game against a rival team. With Ohio State, Indiana and Wisconsin remaining on the schedule, the time is now for the Spartans.
“When we want to play defense and it’s winning time, we can get stops,” Valentine said. “It’s just maintaining that. We have to look at film and me and Travis have to figure it out with the whole team of figuring out solutions so we can maintain that energy and focus for the whole 40 minutes. When we do, we’re a good team.”
