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Free Press sports writer Christian Romo breaks down Michigan State basketball's second-round opponent (2:45 Saturday, March 21, CBS) after the Spartans' first-round win Thursday over North Dakota State.
* Injured/out for season; all stats entering NCAA Tournament.
The buzz: Thursday's NCAA opener against the Bison was entirely run of the mill, as much as a 25-point margin of victory can be. Or the entirely normal 20 points and 10 rebounds from senior Carson Cooper. A ho-hum 11 assists from Jeremy Fears Jr. as he distributed the ball to teammates far and wide while pushing the tempo against North Dakota State. Cam Ward just missed out on a double-double, with 12 points and nine rebounds, and the Spartans shot 50% from beyond the 3-point line.
It wasn't an entirely clean game, as the Spartans did have 12 turnovers (with four attributed to Fears). But with MSU setting the pace, they're willing to put up with the turnovers.
"Everybody has got something they do really well offensively," Izzo told reporters Thursday. "And for us, you talk about running plays, I could care less if we run any plays. I'd like to just get our fastbreak going and make that the biggest part of our offense."
*Out for Saturday's game; all stats entering NCAA Tournament.
The buzz: In order for the Spartans to reach the Sweet 16, they will have to go through the Louisville Cardinals, one of the most successful teams in NCAA Tournament history. And they're not even a top-4 seed this year!
Louisville won't have guard Mikel Brown Jr., who has been out for much of the season with a back injury, for Saturday's game against the Spartans. That's a huge absence for the Cardinals since Brown averaged over 18 points per game in the 21 games he did play this season.
That means the Cardinals will probably rely on senior guard Isaac McKneely to help pick up the slack. McKneely scored a team-high 23 points in just 28 minutes against South Florida, shooting 7-for-10 from 3-point land against a pesky USF squad. Another performance like that could present the Spartans a challenge, since this vaunted Michigan State defense has had recent trouble guarding the 3-point line.
Need to catch up on the news during your lunch break? Sign up for our Sports Briefing newsletter to get daily summaries of Detroit sports!
You can reach Christian at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State vs Louisville in March Madness game: Tale of the tape
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Michigan State basketball: Meet the Spartans
- Location: East Lansing.
- Coach: Tom Izzo (31 seasons at MSU, 762-309 career).
- School tournament record: 76-37 in 38 appearances.
- Past 10 games: 7-3.
- Scoring leaders: G Jeremy Fears Jr., 15.7; F Jaxon Kohler, 12.7; F Coen Carr,11.6; C Carson Cooper 10.8.
- Rebounding leaders: Kohler, 9; Cooper, 7.1; Carr. 5.4.
- Assist leaders: Fears, 9.2; *G Divine Ugochukwu, 1.5; Cooper, 1.4; Kohler/Carr, 1.3.
- 3-point leaders: F Jesse McCulloch, 47.1%; Ugochukwu, 44.2%; Kohler, 39.4%; G Kur Teng, 38.1%.
* Injured/out for season; all stats entering NCAA Tournament.
The buzz: Thursday's NCAA opener against the Bison was entirely run of the mill, as much as a 25-point margin of victory can be. Or the entirely normal 20 points and 10 rebounds from senior Carson Cooper. A ho-hum 11 assists from Jeremy Fears Jr. as he distributed the ball to teammates far and wide while pushing the tempo against North Dakota State. Cam Ward just missed out on a double-double, with 12 points and nine rebounds, and the Spartans shot 50% from beyond the 3-point line.
It wasn't an entirely clean game, as the Spartans did have 12 turnovers (with four attributed to Fears). But with MSU setting the pace, they're willing to put up with the turnovers.
"Everybody has got something they do really well offensively," Izzo told reporters Thursday. "And for us, you talk about running plays, I could care less if we run any plays. I'd like to just get our fastbreak going and make that the biggest part of our offense."
Louisville: Meet the Cardinals
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- Location: Louisville, Kentucky.
- Coach: Pat Kelsey (50-18 in two seasons at Louisville, 311-140 in 14 seasons overall).
- School tournament record: 76-45 in 45 appearances, 10 Final Fours, three national championships (including one vacated by NCAA in 2018).
- Past 10 games: 6-4.
- Scoring leaders (regular season): Ryan Conwell, 18.7 points per game; *Mikel Brown Jr., 18.2; J'Vonne Hadley, 11.8; Isaac McKneely, 10.6).
- Rebounding leaders: Sananda Fru, 6.0 rebounds per game; Hadley, 5.2; Conwell, 4.8.
- Assist leaders: Brown, 4.7 assists per game; Aly Khalifa, 2.6; Conwell, 2.5.
- 3-point leaders: Hadley, 45.6%; Khalifa, 40.7%; McKneely, 38.1%.
*Out for Saturday's game; all stats entering NCAA Tournament.
The buzz: In order for the Spartans to reach the Sweet 16, they will have to go through the Louisville Cardinals, one of the most successful teams in NCAA Tournament history. And they're not even a top-4 seed this year!
Louisville won't have guard Mikel Brown Jr., who has been out for much of the season with a back injury, for Saturday's game against the Spartans. That's a huge absence for the Cardinals since Brown averaged over 18 points per game in the 21 games he did play this season.
That means the Cardinals will probably rely on senior guard Isaac McKneely to help pick up the slack. McKneely scored a team-high 23 points in just 28 minutes against South Florida, shooting 7-for-10 from 3-point land against a pesky USF squad. Another performance like that could present the Spartans a challenge, since this vaunted Michigan State defense has had recent trouble guarding the 3-point line.
Need to catch up on the news during your lunch break? Sign up for our Sports Briefing newsletter to get daily summaries of Detroit sports!
You can reach Christian at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State vs Louisville in March Madness game: Tale of the tape
Continue reading...
