Tom Izzo praises Michigan State's defense early vs. USC, identifies where Spartans must improve

Michigan State locked down on the defensive end to tip off their NCAA Tournament game against USC. They were able to open up an 11-point lead by forcing a 4/13 start by the Spartans from the field. However, Tom Izzo knows it might not last if they don’t keep the same energy throughout.

In a media timeout interview, Izzo said his defense looked much better to start out than it had when we last saw them in the Big Ten Tournament. Even so, USC guard Boogie Ellis had taken just two shots and scored 0 points to that point. If Izzo knows anything, it’s that that specific trend won’t last throughout the game.

“(It’s been better) in the start. But, unfortunately, we’re only 10 minutes into the game,” Izzo admitted. “We have done a better job defensively. We’re getting better weak side help, I think we’ve done a decent job with the ball screens.”

“But Ellis hasn’t lit up yet. And he will light up,” said Izzo.

The last time we’d seen Michigan State, the Spartans gave up decent percentages to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. Defense then became a big concern and focus for Izzo coming into March Madness. That’s because, over their last six games, they’d given up 80 points per game.

You could tell it was a talking point too based on how his team opened against USC. Over the first 11 minutes, the Trojans only had 13 points to their name as Michigan State really clamped down on that end.

Izzo is right, though. This matchup is long from over as the Trojans have slowly started to climb back into the game. As a team, USC isn’t one that’s going to go away on the offensive end either, especially with scorers like Ellis and Drew Peterson constantly being aggressive and looking for their shots. If the Spartans want to advance, they’ll have to find a way to make sure their defensive intensity that earned them an early lead will allow them to sustain that lead throughout the contest.

Izzo demands more from inside defense, suggests potential second-half adjustment

Games can sometimes be a tale of two halves. For Michigan State, it was a tale of halves when it came to the first half alone considering how their defense played. The Spartans locked in well on that end to start but, over the final 10 minutes, USC was able to score enough to get their NCAA Tournament game to a 34-34 tie at the break.

Heading into the half, Tom Izzo’s said that the conditioning of his big men was a big reason why he thinks their defensive intensity fell off. He felt that led to worse coverage in ball-screen coverage as well as more easy looks in transition for their opponent. Now, with that in mind, he says he may look to use some smaller lineups in the second half or will at least rotate Mady Sissoko, Jaxon Kohler, and Carson Cooper in and out better.

“We did a good job. My centers got tired. We started going up to far into those ball screens. Their center, who hasn’t scored that many points in a week, scored three times in a row. That was the difference. I thought we did a very poor job on our ball screen defense and when getting abck. We look tired at that position. I guess that’s my fault.”

“You might (see more small-ball lineups). But we’ve got to just rotate them a little it better…They’ll do a better job.”