Michigan State will play Ohio State today in what will likely be a must-win situation for the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans were ranked fourth in the initial round of 16 announced yesterday. MSU endured a brutal final stretch of the Big Ten regular season, with Purdue, Indiana and Michigan on the road and only Rutgers at home. It’s crucial for Michigan State to win both home games and at least one, maybe two, road wins (depending on what happens in the Big Ten Tournament).
After a brutal first half, the Spartans got the job done against a shorthanded but determined Ohio State team.
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As the O noted in the game preview, Ohio State was without starting guard John Mobley Jr. for this game, but the Buckeyes still pulled off an impressive win against Wisconsin without him on Tuesday. Just before the game, news broke that Pav Johnson would be replacing Ohio State’s starting lineup due to Devin Royal’s illness, leaving the Buckeyes even more short-handed.
Michigan State was coming off a win over UCLA, and the Spartans had a better-than-normal three-goal shooting percentage. Several TOC readers Sgostate1 and wbrianr pointed out in the preview to keep an eye out for Michigan State’s three-point shooting in this one, and worry that they might give up the same number of points for the second straight game. It turns out these concerns were justified.
The game seemed to have the makings of a hard-fought affair, given that both teams were pulling off impressive wins while trying to improve their tournament standings, and that’s how it turned out.
At the start of the game, both teams struggled with their shooting. Amare Bynum picked up two fouls for Ohio State and Jaxon Kohler picked up two fouls for Michigan State in the first four minutes. The Spartans also committed four turnovers and were unable to capitalize on three offensive rebounds. The only bright spot in 16 minutes was a massive jam by Coen Carr, which put MSU up just 4-2 at the first media break.
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After halftime, Michigan State added Kuel Teng, Denham Wojcik and Cam Ward to the bench. Teng quickly contributed a corner three-pointer for the Spartans, but in the end only fell behind 1-5. Bruce Thornton carried six points for Ohio State in the absence of Mobley and Royal, and he kept the Buckeyes close as both teams’ offenses continued to struggle. With 11 minutes and 24 seconds left in the first half, the Spartans led 9-8.
Ohio State took the lead after the media break on Christopher Tilley’s short jumper, then Thornton went on to provide much of the game’s offense. His 3-pointer gave Ohio State a 14-9 lead, and the Spartans struggled to get good inside play against Ohio State’s 2-3 defense.
Carr was fouled while driving to the basket and hit one of two free throws to end MSU’s drought. Teng hit Carr’s second free throw to pull MSU within 14-12, but Ohio State responded later. As the Spartans continued to struggle in the paint, Ohio State converted four layups in the next few minutes to extend the lead to six points.
Jackson Kohler returned with two fouls, a decision that initially paid off for MSU. Kohler hit a three-pointer with 5:40 left in the half to cut OSU’s lead to 20-17. But just two minutes later, Kohler picked up his third foul and OSU led 22-17 at 3:48.
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Carr missed a wide-open 3-pointer that would have tied the game at 22 with 2:30 left in the half, but the Spartans trailed 26-23 as the game entered halftime — a situation MSU has been familiar with lately.
As the score showed, Michigan State’s offense was really bad in the first half. The Spartans shot just 30% (8-for-27) from 3-point range after hitting 14 3-pointers against UCLA. After committing four turnovers in the first four minutes, Michigan State ended the half with seven turnovers, but was roughed up by OSU in the paint and the Buckeyes took a 22-8 lead in scoring.
The good news is that the Spartans trailed by just three points at home, and Thornton was the only player to really hurt them with 16 points.
With Kohler’s third foul, Teng started the second half for MSU. He hit three nice shots from deep in the first few minutes of the second half but didn’t miss a single one. Thornton, meanwhile, hit a short jumper on OSU’s first possession of the second half to give the Buckeyes a 28-23 lead.
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But the Spartans began to move away from there. Cooper made a hook shot from the baseline and then made two free throws. Fear hit a three-pointer. Jordan Scott fouled on a long pass and made two of three free throws. Finally, with 15:09 left in the game, Michigan State regained the lead 34-33.
Kohler returns at 16:08. The Buckeyes attacked him twice, but Jackson performed well on defense.
A Fears to Ward jam extended the Spartans’ lead to 36-33, and Michigan State finally began to find holes in Ohio State’s paint. Fears made it midway through OSU D again, knocking down Thornton to make it 38-35 for the Spartans, but Thornton tied it with a three-pointer at the other end.
With Fiers on the bench, Ohio State took advantage. With 10:50 left in the game, Taison Chatman and Tilly hit a baseline jumper by Jesse McCulloch to put the Buckeyes back in front 43-40.
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Fiers returned to the Spartans and immediately found Scott breaking through and kicking a three-pointer to tie the score at 43. Tilley’s breakaway put OSU back in front, and Koehler’s soft tap from inside the zone tied the game at 45. In the same game, Johnson pushed Cooper to the basket and committed his fourth foul. Although Kohler missed an open 3-pointer, the Spartans were unable to capitalize on the extra possession.
Later, Michigan State did regain the lead when Fiers was fouled on a breakaway and made two free throws. However, we had to wait for the penalty kick. When Fiers was fouled, his leg made contact with Bynum’s groin. The referees decided they needed to review it because that’s what happened to Fear now. This time, the groin contact was determined to have resulted solely from Fiers being fouled, and the initial call stood.
Moments later, Fiers found Cooper in the paint, giving MSU a 49-45 lead with 8:35 left. At 7 minutes and 48 seconds, Oregon State ended Michigan State’s 6-0 run with two free throws, and the game continued to the final minute.
Scott’s offensive rebound and putback gave MSU a four-point lead, but Thornton responded with a short jumper. Cooper once again found a hole in the penalty area with an elbow jumper, but Thornton responded again, causing a questionable foul on Scott and making a free throw.
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The Spartans finally got some distance from here, with Scott finding Cooper for interference and then Kohler spinning beautifully to the basket to make it 59-51, MSU, with 3:36 left.
With little time left in the game, Scott hit a jumper and the Spartans took a double-digit lead 61-51. After Thornton drove past Scott again and made two free throws, Koehler hit in the paint to keep MSU’s 10-point lead.
But that’s not enough to call it a day, as Thornton’s run with the Buckeyes is far from over. He drew Kohler’s fourth foul and made the free throw. He then hit in the paint, extending the lead to 63-56. After a Spartan turnover, Kohler fouled on Tilley’s breakaway. Tilly hit a layup, but the second ball missed, chasing the score to 63-58. With 20 seconds left in the game, Carr was fouled but missed both free throws. Thornton goes to the rack and strikes again. With 14 seconds left in the game, the score suddenly became 63-60.
Scott was fouled shortly after the inbounds play and hit one of two free throws to put MSU within four. Thornton ended up sitting out at OSU, and the Buckeyes fouled Cooper after he grabbed a rebound. Cooper made two free throws and the Spartans ultimately won 66-60.
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Thornton scored 32 points for the Buckeyes, but Cooper came up big in the second half for the Spartans. Kupp finished with 20 points, shooting 7-10 from the field and 6-6 from the free throw line, while also grabbing 11 rebounds. Scott scored 12 points for Michigan State and continued to provide timely games for the Spartans.
Michigan State resumes action Thursday at Purdue. Meanwhile, the Michigan State women’s team has a big game against #23 Minnesota later today. The game will air on FS1 at 6 p.m.