CHICAGO – No one expected Michigan State’s regular basketball season to end with hot shots and high scoring. Especially not Tom Izzo.
And it has evaporated. Like Ohio State, in his third game in three days at the United Center, he made nearly every appearance.
The Buckeyes followed suit. And going. And the Spartans go home early.
Fueled by adrenaline and needing to win it all or see the end of a disappointing season, 13th-ranked Ohio State hit 10 3-pointers while fourth-ranked MSU struggled to find any runs in a 68-58 loss. Friday evening. Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
“No matter how long you’re in it, it never stops surprising you,” said Izzo, who is now 34-19 in Big Ten competition. “I thought we practiced the best we could for three days. I thought our guys were cool. I thought we started the game well.”
“But I give a lot of credit to Ohio State and Chris Holtman. They made some amazing shots. We just couldn’t afford some.”
The Spartans (19-12), who scored 80 points in four straight games to end the regular season, shot just 3-for-16 from 3-point range. They struggled to move the ball with just 11 assists and now have to wait until Sunday night to find out their fate and NCAA tournament seed.
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The Buckeyes (16-18), without star freshman Bryce Senzabaugh (knee), advance to play first seed and No. 3 Purdue on Saturday at noon at the United Center (CBS). They became the lowest seed to advance to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. Bruce Thornton had 21 points, Roddy Gayle Jr. had 15 points, and Senior Judge Chuying had 14 points.
OSU shot 52.6% from deep to sweep the regular-season series after making 7-of-15 3-pointers in the second half of MSU’s 84-78 home win Saturday in East Lansing. The Buckeyes went 21 for 34 in those last two games.
The Spartans held OSU to 6-for-29 on 3-point attempts in the opener on February 12 in Columbus, Ohio, a 62-41 MSU victory.
“They were really good defensively in our place. And to be honest with you, I don’t think I had a good plan against them,” Holtman said. «We beat them last year in our place. I don’t think I played good offense against their defense. They really suffocate with the amount of space they have. So we made some adjustments in Game 2 and took some shots…
“We’ve been playing the right way ever since. It’s probably the low point of the season, but it’s definitely there. I think we trust more in the pass and we play more together. In that sense”.
Four Spartans reached double figures, led by Joey Houser’s 15 points and six rebounds. AJ Hogarth, Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins each scored 10 as MSU shot 38.2% overall.
to be useless again
The Spartans continued their hot shooting streak from the previous month on Friday, starting 4-for-6 in the first 4:17 and including a 7-0 run. All those cubes came after the assists.
Then the ball stopped moving and his shots stopped falling.
MSU was 5-for-23 in the last 15 or more minutes. Houser’s 3-pointer at 16:35 was the only half of the half and the Spartans missed their last seven, going 1-for-9 in the half with Houser hitting the buzzer. The Spartans had just two assists after the split.
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Meanwhile, the Buckeyes couldn’t afford to miss. Chuing hit a pair of 3-pointers and Sean McNeil another as OSU led 15-6 entering the half. Then came another 13-4 run that pushed the Buckeyes’ lead to double digits, and Kyle’s 3-pointer made it the 11th with 2:29 left before Walker’s layup cut MSU’s halftime deficit to 33-24.
“I would say we’re giving up too many driving lanes, and we’re in tough spots because they were confident from 3 today,” Akins said. “So when they’re driving, you don’t know if you want to help or try to stop the ball.”
The Buckeyes made 5 of 9 3-pointers in the first half. Thornton and Chuying each scored eight points and combined for five of OSU’s nine assists.
“Yeah, they were in a rhythm,” Houser said. “We didn’t do a good job defending the 3-point line. But they’ve already had two games here and we knew that going into the game.”
Feb. 28 was reminiscent of the Spartans’ first-half struggles at Nebraska on the 28th, where they scored 27.8 points in the first half. On Friday, MSU shot just 31% overall to OSU’s 51.9% shooting. Houser had seven points in the half, four of which came at the free throw line, while Walker and Maddie Sissoko each had six. Hogarth and Akins combined to go 1 for 9.
recovery is not enough
The shots began to fall for MSU after the half, first on Hauser’s jumper in the paint and then on a 3-pointer by Walker. Confidence was rekindled, a jumper from Akins and a driving layup from Hoggard brought the Spartans within 36-34 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the final period.
MSU had a chance to tie it moments later, but freshman Jaxon Kohler missed a layup. Thornton responded with a three-pointer on the other end. Felix Okpara then crushed Malik Hall’s layup attempt, one of five blocks in the game for the OSU big man, and Chewing tripled it to quickly increase the Buckeyes’ lead to eight.
And Ohio State hit 3-pointers when they needed to, with Gayle and Chewing draining a pair from deep as the Buckeyes went 5-for-10 from behind the arc in the final period to stretch their cushion to 13 with 7:56 remaining.
The Spartans made one last surge, pulling within six with 4:54 to play off Hoggard’s driving layup. But Kaylin’s 3-pointer with 3:14 left was part of a knockout streak that brought her to 14 points in the final minutes.
“We let them make shots,” Walker said. “And that drained our energy. Things like that don’t happen, especially when our defense brought us back.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @crissolari.
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