Men's Basketball
Spartan Rebounding, Depth, Too Much for Buckeyes
By John PorentasSometimes it takes a little thinking to analyze the outcome of a basketball game. That wasn't true in No. 7 Michigan State's 78-67 road win over Ohio State (13-5, 3-5 Big Ten).
The Buckeyes played reasonably well on defense and shot well on the offensive end, but the Spartans (16-3, 6-1 Big Ten) crushed the Buckeyes on the offensive glass to the tune of 16 offensive rebounds compared to just three for OSU. The net result was that the Spartans got up 15 more shots than OSU and outscored the Buckeyes 19-4 in second chance points. It was too much for OSU to overcome.
"I always preach attack the glass," said MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo.
"Sometimes it pays bigger dividends than others. Today was one of those games when it definitely helped us, especially down the stretch."
The game started well enough for the Buckeyes who took an early 13 point lead at 24-11 on the strength of effective shooting by William Buford, Jon Diebler and Evan Turner. Defensively, their 1-3-1 matchup zone also frustrated the Spartans who played without normal starters Kalin Lucas and Travis Walton in the early going due to a disciplinary action by Izzo.
Without Lucas and Walton the Spartans were in search of a scoring spark and got it from guard Durrell Summers. Summers hit four of five three point attempts on his way to 16 first-half points. His last three of the half came with just two seconds left on the clock to trim OSU's lead from 31-23 to 31-26 heading into the locker room.
The Spartans posted seven offensive boards to none for the Buckeyes in the first half, then really got to the glass in the second half where they grabbed nine more offensive boards to frustrate the Buckeyes and keep them on the defensive end of the court for extended periods of time.
"There were times when I thought we did a nice job offensively and defensively but when it came down to it, it's not very fun guarding a team for a 35 seconds then they get the offensive rebound and guarding them again," said Diebler.
"It's frustrating, especially against a team like Michigan State. They're a great basketball team and they made us pay, especially there in the second half. They'd shoot and get the long rebound and having to guard a team like that who has a lot of playmakers on their team, it's pretty frustrating."
The extra possessions helped the Spartans find some holes in the OSU defense. The Buckeyes widened their zone in the second half to try to take away the three point shooting of Summers in the corners. When they did, Lucas was able to use his quickness to penetrate their defense and get the ball into the middle of the zone. After being held scoreless in the first half Lucas put up 20 in the second.
"Lucas made some big plays and some big shots," said Turner.
"First we started keying in on Summers because he was on fire. When we showed out to the corner we let him go one on one and he made the play."
"They started widening that zone and the middle was open," added Izzo.
"We got it in there on the pass and on the penetration.
"What Lucas did a superb job of was he pulled up and hit some of those shots. He did a marvelous job. He hit four of them and they were all good shots."
The Buckeyes shot well, hitting 54.8 percent from the field and a sizzling 50 percent (10 of 20) from three point range, but the extra possessions the Spartans earned with their dominance on the glass was too much to over come, particularly in the second half when the Spartans outscored OSU 52-36.
"The second half the putbacks probably just took the wind out of our sails. We weren't able to come up with the basketball," said Matta.
MSU's dominance in that phase of the game was too much for OSU.
"We were going to have to play great basketball for 40 minutes today. We didn't get that done," said Matta.
"I look at Michigan State and I see a great basketball team. They made the plays they needed to make down the stretch that they needed to make."
Izzo was pleased with the win, especially coming off a home loss this week to Northwestern.
"For us it's a big win against a quality opponent on the road, especially coming off that devastating loss last Wednesday," Izzo said.
"This is a very good Ohio State team in my mind. They are good enough that they are not only going to beat some teams, but they get Lighty back soon and that team is going to be contending just like everyone else."
Izzo added that the loss of Lighty cost the Buckeyes not only on the defensive end, but also on the offensive end, especially in the second half.
"Ohio State right now is short a guy. One guy can make a big difference if you're going from six to seven or seven to eight.
"I thought guys missed some shots late, their legs were gone. Lighty comes back and that changes that a lot. I would look at that our depth had a little bit to do with that, but this is a good team, but I think they're maybe a player short.
"Right now I'd say we have a little more depth and that depth might have worked. Mark my words, this is going to be a good Ohio State team before the year is over if Lighty can come back and play the amount of minutes he can play."
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