Michigan State Basketball: 3 keys to win Semifinals matchup against UConn

Michigan State played a sloppy game on Wednesday against Loyola-Chicago but was able to squeak out a 63-61 victory. Malik Hall stepped up big time with Bingham and Brown in foul trouble. He will need to have the same type of game while the rest of the Spartans play a much more solid game in order to conquer the UConn Huskies.

UConn had a back and forth battle against Auburn where they ended up victories after to overtimes to secure the win. They will need to shoot like they did against Auburn if they want to make it to the championship.

What does Michigan State have to do in order to win this match up and face either VCU/Baylor/Arizona State?

Sloppiness will not win games

The Spartans have played 5 games up to this point and in all of their games they have had long stretches of sloppy play. They turn the ball over or make silly fouls. They are always shooting themselves in the foot. This will need to change if they want to be in the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship.

Turnovers have been a huge issue for Michigan State up until this point. They are averaging 14.8 turnovers a game. In the first Battle 4 Atlantis game they had 20 turnovers, 14 of them coming in the first half where they let the Ramblers take a five point lead going into half. This has to be cleaned up. If it is not the Huskies will run all over them and get out to an early led.

The Spartans have to clean up the fouls as well. In the matchup against the Ramblers Gabe Brown got into some early foul trouble. This led to him only being able to play 5 minutes in the first half. This is not good for the Spartans. Brown is the Spartans leading scorer at 14 points a game.

He is a high energy player and captain of this team. Other players feed off of his energy and if he is not on the court the rest of the team looks out of sorts. This was seen majorly in the first half of the game.

Bingham also got into some foul trouble. When this happens it forces Izzo to take out his tallest and best rim protector out of the game and replace him with Marble. Julius Marble is a good player and continues to get better each year but he is not the same force that Bingham has been this year.

Bingham had 7 blocks in the first tournament game and is averaging 3.5 on the season. He is also the second leading scorer with 12 points and the most efficient scorer on the team shooting the best percentage.

If Michigan State wants a chance to play in this Championship game they will have to clean up their game. Get rid of the sloppy play, stop turning the ball over, and stop getting into foul trouble.

Contain the Huskies on the perimeter

Three point shooting has been a struggle for the Spartans in their first five games of the season. They have not been able to hit consistently from deep. The Huskies on the other hand have not had that same issue.

The UConn Huskies are hitting the deep shot at almost 40% per game. They have a few players who are striving from deep. Polley has struggled in the first few games of the season but he showed in this last game against Auburn he can stroke it. He was 6-9 from deep. Cole is another player and leader of this Husky team that can do damage from deep. He shot 5-10 in this game against Auburn.

What Michigan State has to do to defend this is be strong. They have to fight through the high screen and go over top of them. Do not go behind and give these shooters room to pull up from deep. That will hurt. Fight through the contact and make them battle.

You can also switch on screen but do not let mismatches burn you. If you switch stay with your guy. If you don’t switch then that help side defender needs to step out on the screens and allow the man guarding him to get around and recover.

This will be a team effort all the way through but these Huskies have to be contained from deep. Do not give these Huskies an easy shot or it will be a long day for the Spartans.

Leaders have to lead

This one is quite obvious, the Spartan leads need to take over and lead their team to victory. This revolves around Gabe Brown, Marcus Bingham Jr, and Malik Hall. These are the guys that will take these Spartans into battle and lead them to victory.

I mentioned earlier about some things that Gabe Brown cannot do. He cannot get into foul trouble early. The Spartans need him on the court. Even if he is not scoring at a high percentage at first they feed off of his energy. He also has the ability to shoot the deep ball and keep the Spartans in this game. They will need a lot from in this game.

Bingham is the cornerstone of this Michigan State defense right now. He is the best rim protector and is not biting on pump fakes very often. He is averaging 4 blocks per game right now and had 7 against the Ramblers. He is making it very difficult for smaller guards to drive and get an easily look.

He is also standing his ground and not letting the bigs get comfortable or in position down low. The defense will need another strong effort by Bingham to keep the Huskies leading scorer, Sanogo, off his game and not let him score his season average of 16 points.

Malik Hall started his fist game of the season against Eastern Michigan. He had a strong performance in that game but not in the stat line. He just does all the intangibles. In this last game against the Ramblers is a different story. He had a career night. He had a career high in points with 24 not missing a shot. He was 9-9 from the floor and 5-5 from the line. He also had 7 boards and did not turn the ball over once. He only committed one foul as well.

Malik Hall was voted a captain this season and the Spartan fans are seeing why. He does everything asked of him. He sometimes passes up on his shots but look for Hall’s confidence to grow and his game come to him. He is what Izzo like to call “our kind of guy”. He is a hustle player and gives everything he has to the game and this team.

These three will need to have strong performances for the Spartans to come out on top. Leaders need to lead and this game will show a glimpse of what could be a real spectacular season for the Spartans when they do so.