A tale of two halves would probably best describe Michigan State basketball’s 79-60 win over San Jose State on Thursday night in East Lansing.
Michigan State raced out to a 16-2 lead before San Jose State even knew what happened and then continued to dominate until halftime, holding a 46-23 lead at the break. That healthy lead disappeared rather quickly in the second half as San Jose State put together a quick 8-0 run in the opening minutes and even cut the lead down to as little as 10 with under four minutes left.
From there, Michigan State pulled away again, pushing the lead back to 19 when the final horn sounded. It wasn’t pretty, but you take that win heading into the Kentucky game.
What did we learn?
1. It was the Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper show
If I told you before the game that Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper would lead the team offensively, you would’ve had me committed. But that’s exactly what happened.
Kohler had a career night, racking up a whopping 18 rebounds to go along with his team-leading 17 points. Cooper tied Kohler for the team lead in points while also grabbing seven boards. Cooper had four steals and a block and Kohler added two blocks. While Kohler’s 3-point shooting could use some work, the two had a huge night down low, leading the Spartans.
Hopefully this is the start of dominant paint presence on offense.
2. Kur Teng finally showed flashes
Kur Teng looked a little overwhelmed through two games as well as two exhibition outings, but he more than held his own on Thursday, scoring 10 points in just 18 minutes. He was much more confident and when he saw the first one fall, he didn’t shy away from looking for his shots. He finished 4-for-8 from the floor and 2-for-5 from deep.
If he can start hitting shots, Michigan State’s two-guard spot will look a lot more respectable. He needs to build on this and take this confidence into Tuesday against Kentucky.
3. The second half wasn’t good enough
I know what most people are going to say: it was just San Jose State, there’s no need to worry about a poor second-half showing in a 19-point win.
But the second-half effort just wasn’t great. Michigan State gave up an 8-0 run to start the half, and then after surging back out to a 20-point lead, the Spartans allowed San Jose State to continue to hang around and that lead was eventually cut to 10. Michigan State was out-scored in the second half, 37-33, and you know Tom Izzo is going to lay into his team about that.
It wasn’t just San Jose State shooting much better in the second half, Michigan State was settling for a lot of threes and getting away from what got it that big lead.
Practices should be fun leading up to the Kentucky game.