CLEVELAND — Michigan State’s 3-point shooting may have arrived, and it couldn’t have picked a better time to show up.
After a season of searching for its outside shot, No. 2 seed Michigan State found a big boost in Friday’s 87-62 win over Bryant to start the NCAA Tournament. A 10-for-26 3-point shooting performance played a big role in the win. And as the Spartans eye a deep run in the postseason, this burgeoning area of their game might make them an even more dangerous matchup. That is, if they maintain excellence in the other facets that have gotten them this far in the season.In Friday’s win, Michigan State hit double-digit 3-pointers for the first time since the Dec. 4 win at Minnesota. Ten makes on 26 shots steered the offense late. Seven of those came in the second half, when the Spartans ran up the score to turn a shaky start into a confident blowout.
“I felt like we really were shooting well from 3,” said guard Jase Richardson, who shot 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. “I mean, there were (a) couple bad shots, free throws we didn’t hit. But I definitely think if we shoot the ball well, we can do some stuff, but we still got to come out defensively and do what we do.”
The long-range deluge arrived about two minutes into the second half, when Jaden Akins (2-for-10) and Jeremy Fears Jr. (1-for-4) hit back-to-back 3s. Richardson and Tre Holloman joined the perimeter party soon after, with Holloman the most efficient (4-for-5) among the guards.
Good shooting arrived at a good time for Michigan State, both in the context of the NCAA Tournament it hopes to go far in, as well as a first-round game that got a little messy in the first half. A 6-for-11 start at the free-throw line showed warts that continue to grow down the stretch, while execution errors — like a traveling call and a charge — allowed Bryant to hang around at halftime.
“We didn’t do the things we needed to do (in the) first half,” Fears said. “We missed open shots, free throws, and they were just playing tougher than us at that moment. So just going into the second half, Jaden hit that three and then I made my open shot. It’s just kind of a boost for everyone, got the energy going, juice flowing.”
This surge came as Bryant showed zone, trying to stop a Michigan State attack that attacked the rim with intensity. Coen Carr’s career-best 18-point, nine-rebound game was a big reason why. Instead of slowing down, the Spartans shot their way out of the zone to put the game on ice.
All these 3s came with a tradeoff, though it’s not one Michigan State wants to keep making.
“What happens sometimes is when you start making shots, you say, ‘Well, I can win that way and I don’t guard.’ How about if we do both?” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “That would be nice. And then make free throws. That’d be really nice. So then if you defend, you rebound, you make 3s and you make free throws, maybe you could play a little longer in this tournament.”
Izzo is describing a “great” team, as he would call it. All season, Michigan State has peaked at “very good.” A lack of 3-point shooting was the one real area that he’d been waiting on to elevate his prognosis. It was on the Spartans’ Christmas list, and their New Year’s resolutions, and they probably gave up bad shooting for Lent. But now the Spartans’ shots are falling for a basketball junkie’s favorite holiday: March Madness.
Now that the 3-pointers are going in, Michigan State is all the more dangerous at the most important time of the year.
“That kind of stuff will help us, as long as we don’t think we’re an offensive team now or a 3-point-shooting team and forget to guard people and rebound,” Izzo said. “Because at the end of the day: defend, rebound and run. We had 15 fast-break points, I believe, which was 15 to none, I guess. That was a big stat. We had 31 second-chance points to their six. That was a big stat.”
Better shooting is a complement but not a core tent of Michigan State. If everything comes together, the Spartans can reach an even higher ceiling at the time of year when teams want to play their best. Teams that spend hours in the film room figuring out how to deal with the transition game or the rebounding, or the sticky defense then have to figure out how to mitigate perimeter shooting that can blow the doors off a game.
Just in the nick of time.