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V-Cast: Elite Again! Breaking down Michigan State's latest surge into the Regional Finals

On3 imageby:Paul Konyndyk•03/29/25•

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v cast ole miss

ATLANTA – Michigan State advanced to the Elite Eight with a 73-70 win over Ole Miss on a night where Jase Richardson scored a team-high 20 points and Spartan guards combined for 47 points against a physical SEC opponent.

Afterward SpartanMag staffers checked in from courtside at State Farm Arena with the latest V-Cast.

V-Cast Topics

Solving Ole Miss Defense: Michigan State struggled to get good shots in the first half of this game while facing a level of physicality on defense that the Spartans haven’t seen to this point in the season. Spartan players indicated afterward that they hadn’t faced as many contested shots in any game this season that they had in this one. After halftime, Michigan State did a better job of moving the ball and get it to players capable of exploiting favorable mismatches resulting from their opponent switching five on defense. Jase Richardson, Jaden Akins, and Tre Holloman all had success creating for themselves and teammates off dribble penetration in the second half.

Free-Throw Differential: Ole Miss coach Chris Beard made a big deal about free-throw differential favoring Michigan State in this game. While the Spartans shot 12 more free-throws than Ole Miss did in this game, one of the biggest factors in the free-throw differential was Beard’s team fouling while trying to prolong the game in the late going. Free-throw accuracy, however, was a big deal of for Michigan State which shot 19-for-22 at the free-low line. Foul shooting was a major point of emphasis ahead of this game for Tom Izzo and his staff who were less than pleased with the number of missed free throws during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament by their team.

Everyone Pitching In: Michigan State had valuable contributions from each of the eight players that logged minutes against Ole Miss beyond the backcourt quartet of Akins, Richardson, Fears, and Holloman. This was the smallest post-season player rotation the Spartans have had as starting center Szymon Zapala did not star due to the small frontcourt of Ole Miss. With Zapala out of the rotation, Michigan State went with the duo of Coen Carr and Frankie Fidler at the four. Carr scored 15 points in the start. Fidler added five points for the Spartans, including three-point play. Jaxon Kohler, who got the start at the five and went scoreless but finished with two rebounds. Carson Cooper scored six points on 2-for-3 shooting and added a team-high rebounds.

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