Michigan State Basketball: To Foul or Not To Foul

Michigan State basketball had the opportunity at home against the Minnesota Golden Gophers to put even more distance between themselves and the bubble.

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The Spartans could have taken another positive step toward working away from the 8/9 seed line, and continue their current 4-game winning streak when Minnesota game to call.

None of this happened.

The Spartans showed that if not completely focused in on all aspects of the game, the talent is not there to make up for it. Michigan State scored at will against the Gophers, having no problems putting the ball in the bucket and had chances early to pull away.

However, the defense was not up to the standard it has been during this winning streak and the Gophers put the ball in the hoop equally as effectively, if not better at times then MSU. The top teams in the country can get away with having an off night on one end of the court, as we know this year’s team is not one of those teams and last night yet again proved it.

The Spartans can play with anyone in the country (except for maybe that one team down in SEC country) when they are playing great defense and offense, they can also lose to anyone in the country if the focus on either end is lacking on any given night, which explains the roller-coaster of a season this has been.

This post however is not a recap of the game last night, the previous paragraph is the last analysis you will read. I am going to transition into being a “Monday Morning Quarterback” and ask the age old question of to foul or not to foul at the end of the game when up by three points.

For the third time this season MSU and Coach Izzo have come across this scenario (Maryland, Ohio State, and Minnesota). In the Maryland game, as well as against Minnesota, they chose not to foul, while against Ohio State coach Izzo stated they would have fouled except there was a steal on the inbound – so we will never know.

In both the cases of Maryland and Minnesota when choosing to play it out each team hit that 3-pointer to force overtime and went on to win the game, taking victories from the Spartans which they could desperately use.

Obviously this is all in hindsight after a tough loss, which always makes it easier to second-guess. But the game should have never came down to a three-pointer to tie. Due to poor execution by MSU players (missing foul shots and fouling three point shooters come to mind) the door was left open.

Dec 17, 2013; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo reacts to a play during the 1st half of a game against the North Florida Ospreys at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Finally and most importantly, Coach Izzo is one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time and has forgotten more about basketball strategy then I could ever hope to learn. Throughout his career, Izzo has generally been a play it out at the end of the game coach, with a few instances where he did foul but they are most certainly not the norm. I do not agree with this strategy for exactly the reason of the outcome of the Maryland and Minnesota games.

At the highest level of basketball, the NBA of course, you generally see the strategy of putting the team on the line and only allowing them to pull within one. In college basketball it seems like coaches are either of the play it out mindset or they go back and forth on the matter, they have not caught up with the professional philosophy.

In my opinion, especially in college where the 3-point line is still so close, coaches should foul and put the team on the line rather than giving them the chance to collect those three points. It is far more likely that a team will knock down a three to tie the game than to miss one foul shot and get a tip in, or for the opponent to hit both foul shots and you miss all of your free throws on the next possession.

Again, this is not the pure reason that the Spartans blew a golden opportunity. The inability to get stops, make foul shots, and committing dumb fouls all play a part in this. It is however a topic that should be discussed especially with this Spartan team who is likely not going to blow everyone out.

This scenario will surely happen again before the season is out and it will be interesting to see if Coach Izzo changes his philosophy.

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