Michigan State’s win over North Dakota State in round one set up an interesting matchup between the Spartans and No. 6 seed Louisville in the second round.
With a Sweet 16 berth on the line, these familiar foes are going to battle it out for what should be a fairly evenly-matched 40 minutes. The Spartans may be the better team, on paper, but Louisville’s ability to knock down the three like it did against South Florida will be a major factor.
Along with perimeter defense, what are the main concerns about Michigan State heading into the second-round matchup with Louisville?
1. Perimeter defense
When Michigan State has lost this year, it’s been mostly due to poor perimeter defense and just kind of missing assignments on that end of the floor. Switches aren’t being made properly and shooters are leaking open to bury the Spartans. That’s exactly what happened against UCLA in the Big Ten Tournament. The Bruins buried Michigan State thanks to a 3-point barrage.
It happened against Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and UCLA in the final 11 games of the regular season. And it almost happened twice against Rutgers. Michigan State’s perimeter defense just got thrashed and led to poor performances and losses.
Michigan State’s perimeter defense looked really good on Thursday against North Dakota State, holding the Bison to 6-for-25 from three, but that needs to carry over.
2. Bench production
Far too often this season, Michigan State hasn’t gotten much from its bench. The Spartans have had bursts here and there where they’ll have guys like Kur Teng or Cam Ward go off, but ever since Divine Ugochukwu got hurt, the bench production has dipped. Trey Fort hasn’t gotten consistent minutes, so while he can score, you can’t count on it.
We saw the bench perk up against North Dakota State as Cam Ward scored 13, Jesse McCulloch and Kur Teng each hit threes, Trey Fort scored seven, and even Denham Wojcik got into the scoring column with four.
If Michigan State can get 25-30 points off the bench, there’s close to a 100 percent chance that it’s winning that game.
3. Starting slow
Outside of the first couple of minutes against North Dakota State, Michigan State avoided the dreaded slow start that has plagued it over the course of the final 11 games of the regular season.
That’s one of the main worries that Michigan State fans have for the NCAA Tournament. If the Spartans’ run is cut short of a Final Four, many feel like it’ll be because they came out far too slow and that led to a disappointing loss after a furious comeback.
Starting slow against a team like Louisville that can get hot from three and stay hot would probably be nightmare scenario No. 1 for the Spartans.