Tom Izzo is facing yet another tough Sweet 16 battle. For the third time in four years, Michigan State is facing a really tough Sweet 16 matchup, following up Kansas State in 2023 and Ole Miss in 2025.
This one is probably the toughest of the bunch.
UConn is going to be a heck of a battle for Izzo and the Spartans. The Huskies have won two of the last three national titles and aren’t going to just roll over in the Sweet 16. This is going to be one of the most intense battles of the entire tournament, and I’d bet it’s an instant classic.
There are a few adjustments to make if Izzo wants to make it to another Final Four.
1. Limiting turnovers
While there’s no real strategy for limiting turnovers other than “playing smarter”, Izzo is going to address crisper passes, smarter decisions, and overall more efficient play without forcing things all week. He needs to make sure that Jeremy Fears Jr. makes the smart pass instead of going for the highlight play when the game is still tight. He can’t be as casual against UConn as he was against Louisville in the second round.
I’d be willing to bet that Izzo and Fears have already had a conversation about this.
Focusing on passing out of double teams, facing a full-court press, and maybe even breaking a zone effectively would address this issue head-on.
2. Feeding the hot hand at the two
I think we’ve been seeing this more and more in recent weeks, but sometimes it might be OK to sacrifice lockdown defense for some scoring.
Jordan Scott has earned his starting job and he needs to be playing around 20 minutes per game, in my opinion, but if his shot isn’t falling, it’s OK to give Trey Fort or Kur Teng a few extra minutes. While Scott’s defense has been one of the most impressive aspects of his game, his offense has taken a bit of a step back in recent weeks (probably because he set the bar too high when he became a starter originally). If Michigan State’s offense is struggling, it might be worth it to make a switch.
Or, if Scott’s hot and makes a couple of threes, don’t immediately take him out. I feel like that happens a lot and it kind of hurts a little of the momentum. If Scott is hot, ride with him. If Fort is hot, ride with him. If Teng is hot, ride with him. If they’re all hot, that’s a great problem to have.
3. Tightening up the perimeter defense
In the opening round, Michigan State’s perimeter defense looked really good, but against Michigan, UCLA, and Louisville (the last three power conference teams the Spartans have faced), it really struggled with picks and switches, often leaving at least one shooter open on the perimeter.
We saw way too many open threes taken by Louisville and the same could have been said for the UCLA and Michigan games to end Big Ten play.
Tightening up those switches on picks and choosing the right times to dip under or go over the screen is imperative to fixing these issues. The first time Michigan State saw UConn, the Huskies shot nearly 40 percent from three. Good thing there’s film to fix this issue.