Michigan State basketball out-toughed and, for the most part, out-played Purdue on Friday afternoon. The Spartans were better.
You might read the title of this article and think to yourself, “Oh, we’re celebrating moral victories now.” No, that’s not what I’m trying to do, especially since the Michigan State basketball program is way too proud for that.
But Friday afternoon’s 67-62 loss to Purdue showed us all something. It showed us that Michigan State is starting to play like the team that was ranked preseason No. 4. It’s starting to show why there was so much hype surrounding this year’s veteran-laden team. It did that with a clutch victory on Thursday over Minnesota and it did so again on Friday against the No. 3 team in the country.
Michigan State lost this game by just five despite shooting just 39 percent from the floor and getting a combined 12 points from Jaden Akins and AJ Hoggard on 5-for-19 shooting. Oh, and Tyson Walker was just 6-for-18 from the floor. It was a horrendous shooting performance from the Spartans and yet they were still the better team. They out-played, out-hustled, and out-toughed Purdue.
I’m not one to blame refs for anything, but if not for a 27-12 free throw discrepancy (and 29-17 on fouls) and what felt like dozens of phantom fouls, Michigan State wins this game. But also if Walker hits 1-2 more of the shots he normally makes, Michigan State wins. Anyone who watched this game realized that it was one of the most poorly officiated games of the year (yes, even rival Michigan fans were vocal about this). Tom Izzo even said as much during a timeout in the first half. They were horrendous. But that’s the Big Ten’s problem.
Michigan State will likely head into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 or No. 10 seed and it’ll be set up with a tough potential second-round matchup against a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. It’s not what we expected at the beginning of the year, but this type of play is exactly what we hoped for.
Now that the Spartans are rounding into form, it feels like this team is capable of much more than just making the NCAA Tournament.
It feels like this team can make a run — especially if it plays like it did during the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans were the better team on Friday and that should make everyone feel better heading into the Big Dance.
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