Saturday's game against Ohio State was a clash of defenses, as witnessed by the final score: 59-56. Ohio State's defense is led by their point guard, Aaron Craft, who is known for his quick feet and quick hands. The man did not disappoint with five out of the six team steals coming from his hands. The Spartans had an impressive nine steals with the leaders between Appling (2), Dawson (2), and Nix (2). The Buckeyes made it difficult in the first half for our big men to score in the paint. The Spartans shut down the Buckeyes except for Thomas, who had 28 points-the most in Big Ten play.
To pick up where RSMSUBall dropped off, the Spartan team listened to her suggestion and started the game with energy, confidence, and points! They took an early 11-point lead and then went cold for about seven minutes. Their drought, however, only happened on their offense, and they managed to maintain the Buckeyes, or at least not give them a lead, during that seven minute stretch. The whole game was intense, exciting, and close.
During the course of the game, one had to wonder: who would emerge as the Spartan's leader? Unlike the Buckeyes, there did not appear to be a one-star hero. In fact, the commentators on espn, asked several times, "In a close game like this, would you rather be coaching the team with no star but scoring shared between several players, or would you rather coach the team with the superstar hothand?" Call me biased, but my choice was the team with even scoring among several players. Check the numbers: Appling: 15, Payne: 14, Dawson: 9, Harris: 8, and Nix: 8. Appling emerged as the final leader due to his free throws at the end of the game. But what do those kind of numbers say? It means unselfishness, smart play, and at the end of the day, we don't have to have a Draymond Green to win a game. This is good news because last year, we couldn't win without him (remember Illinois?). It means that at any point, any number of players can make a play to help the team. This, indeed, is what happened.
The problem with a hotshot is that at any point, you can go cold. AND, if your team doesn't/can't get you the ball, they are hurting on offense. This is exactly what happened with the Buckeyes. According to Izzo, as stated in si.com, when the Spartans were up three points with seconds left in the game, the plan was to foul Thomas if he got the ball but do it BEFORE he shot the 3. This would have sent him to the line to shoot two freethrows, still leaving the Spartans up by one, at worst. Getting the ball to Thomas was exactly what Ohio State had planned but instead, Shannon Scott shot the ball prematurely and it wasn't even close.
An important and well-fought win as we head to Wisconsin tomorrow, who just suffered a loss to Iowa on Saturday night. Emotions will be high.
A few other hoop thoughts:
Apparently beating Indiana at Indiana was not enough to earn Wisconsin a spot in the top 25. Did their loss to Iowa overshadow their earlier victory?
MSU's ranking has moved to #13. Good job, Sparty! Illinois has dropped out.
Keith Appling was named a third captain by Tom Izzo. He joins Derrick Nix and Russell Byrd.
The MSU Women's bball team has earned the #25 spot in the rankings!
Hopefully the winter cold air doesn't affect our shooting tomorrow night. GO STATE!!
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