V-Cast: what we know about Michigan State's NCAA Tourney match-up with Mississippi St.
East Lansing, Mich. – One day after Michigan State breathed a collective sigh of relief after getting into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed in the West Region, Spartan coach Tom Izzo has immersed himself in film study of his team’s Round of 64 opponent Mississippi State and is eager to see how his team will fare in their 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
On Monday afternoon, Izzo held a press conference previewing Michigan State’s Round of 64 match-up against the No. 8 seed Bulldogs, who have a pair of wins over Tennessee on their resume as well as a victory over SEC Tournament Champion Auburn.
After Izzo’s press conference, SpartanMag.com staffers Jim Comparoni and Paul Konyndyk checked in from courtside at the Breslin Center to preview Michigan State’s game with the Bulldogs in the latest V-Cast.
V-CAST TOPICS
Michigan State needs to get production from its fastbreak: Against a good defensive team like this one, the best shots the Spartans are likely to get are going to come from the transition game. The Spartans did a good job of getting out and running in the Big Ten Tournament, getting strong production against both Minnesota and Purdue via the fastbreak. The Bulldogs do an excellent job of both clogging the middle of the floor and taking away the 3-point line defensively. As such, the Spartans will have to work to find open looks in the halfcourt. Mississippi State does not defend in transition as well as they do in the halfcourt. Making fastbreak opportunities count, could be a key factor in solving the Bulldog defense for Michigan State. AJ Hoggard did some good things pushing the break in the last two games for the Spartans. He needs to continue effectively powering the break in the NCAA Tournament.
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Mississippi State is big, physical, and productive inside: Strong guard play is one of the biggest factors in success at the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs have one of the best freshman guards in the SEC in Josh Hubbard, but the strength of Michigan State’s NCAA Tournament opponent is its depth and physicality on the inside. Tolu Smith III is a reliable interior scorer at 6-foot-11, 245. Smith has help off the bench at center from Saginaw native Jimmy Bell Jr. as well as sophomore Keshawn Murphy. Bell is a big-body as a grad transfer who began his college career at Arizona and played multiple years at West Virginia. Murphy is a developing underclassman who got solid experience when Smith was out with injury at the start of the season. The Bulldogs also have a physical Branden Dawson-type four man in Cameron Matthews (6-7, 230), who leads the team in assists, steals, and field-goal percentage.
Bulldog defense is different and effective: The Spartans have played a lot of different styles of defense this season, but they haven’t faced a defense that does things quite the way that Mississippi State does. The Bulldogs do some things on defense that are similar to what Chris Beard had success with when he guided Texas Tech to a runner-up finish in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The scheme that the Bulldogs use on defense funnels opposing offenses to the baseline. It also effectively takes away the middle of the floor. When teams do get the ball in the middle, Mississippi State does an effective job of generating steals with its help defender. Forward Cameron Mathews has more steals on the year than Tyson Walker does for the Spartans.
