While much has been made of the phenomenal scoring and offensive numbers MSU has consistently put up throughout the season, the team also had tremendous success on the defensive end at times this year. But that was one of the areas of MSU’s game head coach Tom Izzo thought needed the most work heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
After falling to Purdue 82-81, MSU’s last loss, it was
apparent MSU needed to buckle down on the defensive end of the court — and the team responded.
The next four games saw MSU hold opponents to a fantastic 61.3 points per game while holding Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State all to less than 40 percent shooting from the field.
However, during the final two games of the season against Rutgers and Ohio State, Izzo saw the defense slip, something that worried him come the start of the postseason. MSU gave up 66 points to Rutgers on 46 percent shooting, including 41 points during the first half .
Next MSU gave up 76 points to Ohio State during the regular season finale, which included allowing the Buckeyes to shoot 47 percent from the field and 48 percent from the 3-point line.
But when the 3-point shooting of MSU went cold during the Big Ten Tournament, the MSU defense held strong and helped ensure an MSU Big Ten Tournament title.
“Last week we were all talking about what happens if Bryn (Forbes) doesn’t shoot well, or I was bringing up to you that I don’t want to be a team that’s living by the three and dying by the three, and still our defense and rebounding has to be a staple, and I think it was a great example that he didn’t shoot well, we didn’t shoot necessarily really well, and we still found a way to beat quality teams,” Izzo said during a press conference Monday.
Despite shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc, MSU held its three opponents to just an average of 59 points per game and just 12-of-48 from the 3-point line.
MSU’s defense also held Maryland to one field goal during the final 10 minutes of their Big Ten Tournament semifinal matchup and held Purdue without a basket for the final 3:39 of the Big Ten title game —In essence, when MSU needed a stop, it got one.
“I think we showed that in crunch time we can lock down,” senior guard Bryn Forbes said, “Because they were saying we hadn’t had any close games and this, that and the other — I kind of knew we’d lock down if we had to.”
Forbes shot 4-of-17 from long-range in the Big Ten Tournament, numbers that at the beginning of the season might have forced Izzo to sit his senior sharpshooter on the bench in favor of a better defender.
“I mean, (Bryn Forbes) goes 1-for-6 from the three and we’ve got him in there, and we’ve got him in there because he’s playing defense now,” Izzo said. “He’s communicating. He’s doing things,”
Forbes said with the quick turnaround there isn’t much time to practice against the different defenses, making the film study much more important in preparing defensive game plans.
Senior guard Denzel Valentine said the MSU coaches do a great job of preparing the players, making it easier for the team to be prepared defensively despite the short turnaround.
“It is (hard), but not with our coaches,” Valentine said. “Our coaches do a great job of preparing us, they’re always thinking ahead, they’re always improvising just like us and having us ready to play.”
