Tom Izzo and Michigan State basketball picked up a Quad 1 road win on Saturday night over a Washington team that could fall out of Quad 1 territory very soon.
The Spartans dominated the Huskies for a majority of the game, rolling to an 80-63 win.
Washington looked like it was going to make it a game in the second half, pulling within five, 48-43, before the Spartans stepped on the gas and never looked back. The Huskies didn’t stand much of a chance against an elite defense like Michigan State’s when the deficit ballooned to double digits.
Michigan State’s win improved its record to 16-2 overall and 6-1 in league play, riding a four-game winning streak. It also improved the Spartans’ KenPom ranking, specifically for defense.
According to the KenPom rankings, Michigan State now has the No. 1 defense in the country, passing the previous No. 1 team… Michigan.
This Michigan State defense is special
It’s kind of impressive that a solid, but not elite, defensive effort at Washington was enough to give the Spartans the No. 1 spot in KenPom’s rankings over a Michigan team that had been dominating just about everyone it played in the first half of the season.
Izzo has to be proud of what his team has been able to do ever since that horrendous defensive showing against Cornell at the end of non-conference play. Since giving up 97 points to Cornell, Michigan State has held its last five opponents under 70, and no one has scored over 66 on the Spartans in that stretch. They also held two teams under 60 — and one was ranked No. 13.
Jeremy Fears is a good leader to have on this end of the floor seeing as he’s probably an All-Big Ten defender, and the other guys feed off his energy. Carson Cooper has become a really good rim protector, but he can also extend to the perimeter and he’s quick enough to defend drives. Jaxon Kohler has improved drastically on this end of the floor in just about every aspect. Divine Ugochukwu has plenty of length and is quick enough to disrupt ball-handlers. And Coen Carr is just an all-around athlete who, if he gets beat, can recover and make a play at the rim.
The bench, for the most part, plays solid defense as well. Cam Ward, Jordan Scott, Kur Teng, Jesse McCulloch, Trey Fort, and even Denham Wojcik have all improved in that area of their games this season.
If this defense continues to play at this elite level, banners will be hung.