Michigan State escaped major upset on Thursday night, hanging on to beat a pesky Rutgers team that’s given the Spartans a ton of problems this year, 91-87.
The final score may look wild, and that’s because the final two minutes were, in fact, wild. The Spartans had an 81-66 lead with about 1:45 left and Rutgers went on a tear offensively, hitting its final eight shots and it pulled within two before two Jeremy Fears free throws with three seconds left put the game away.
This was one of those endings that took years off Spartan fans’ lives, and Tom Izzo can agree that he’s glad that he likely won’t face Rutgers again this year.
What’d we learn on Thursday?
1. Cam Ward may have broken through that wall
Every freshman hits a wall midway through their first year on campus, although some aren’t as noticeable as others. He suffered a wrist injury in the middle of the season and he’s battled back from that to really make an impact on the team and provide some much-needed depth in the post.
He may have had his best game in months against Rutgers with nine points, nine rebounds, and three blocks. He was playing some really good basketball all night long and showed the aggression that we haven’t seen in months.
Ward may have shattered through that freshman wall.
2. Coen Carr has improved in one major area
This team goes to an entirely different level when Coen Carr is playing his best basketball. It goes without saying, but the offense takes another step when he’s on. He was flying around the court on Thursday and he finished with a team-high 21 points to go along with six rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting.
However, the biggest area of improvement for the junior forward has not been 3-point shooting, but after a season of struggles at the line, he went 8-for-8 against Rutgers — including a couple of huge makes at the end of the game.
Carr’s free throws have been a point of contention all season, but he’s starting to turn a corner and Thursday night was proof. He’s now made 11 of his last 13 from the line.
3. New fear unlocked: Jeremy Fears Jr. in foul trouble
Jeremy Fears Jr. found himself in foul trouble on Thursday night as he picked up a second one right before the end of the first half, and if you know anything about how Izzo coaches, he hates putting players back in with two first-half fouls. He gave Fears a shot to end the half without fouling, and luckily he did.
Unfortunately, he picked up his third with about 10 minutes left and then added a fourth just seconds later thanks to a very weak technical foul call after he pointed up at the replay to Izzo.
With four fouls, Fears had to basically act like a revolving door and let Rutgers’ guards drive by him without a contest because he didn’t want that fifth. Not only was that hard to watch, but it also led to Denham Wojcik playing way more than he needed to, and near the end of regulation, that nearly cost the Spartans a win.
Wojcik couldn’t get the ball inbounds nor could he bring it up the floor, leading to a 14-point lead with 1:15 left disappearing in seconds.
Hopefully foul trouble won’t be an issue come NCAA Tournament time.