NCAA Tournament 2017, Miami vs Michigan State: Highlights, score and recap

Highlights and recap of Friday’s NCAA Tournament clash between Michigan State and Miami

It’s been a weird year for Michigan State. In Tom Izzo’s first real dip into the one-and-done pool, his Spartans have struggled with injury and inexperience. Miles Bridges has displayed the talent that makes him a likely lottery pick, but it’s been hard for everything to come together. Michigan State comes into the tournament as a 9-seed –- but this is just where Tom Izzo does his best work.

Miami has also struggled a bit with injuries this year, with injuries to starters like Ja’Quan Newton disrupting their rotation. But they didn’t let it stop them from scrapping to a 21-11 record, with a 10-8 mark in ACC conference play.

RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament Bracket

Their offense has just been okay; they’re just inside the top-70 in the country per adjusted efficiency. But the defense has been excellent, as they’re currently the 21st best in the country. While they don’t do anything specifically great on that end, they’re very good at just about everything – perimeter and interior defense, generating steals, and rebounding.

Michigan State’s talent and Tom Izzo’s magic won out in this one. After a frustrating start for Michigan State, where they were flustered by Miami’s zone defense and fell behind by double digits, they went on a tear. After the 12-minute mark in the first half, where they trailed 19-8, Michigan State went on a 27-6 run and went into halftime with a double digit lead. Passes snapped around and broke down the zone, Michigan State ran out in transition, and Miles Bridges showed exactly why he’ll be a lottery pick come June.

It was much more of the same in the second half. Michigan State continued to look like the athletically superior team, and flashed some incredible passing chemistry. The team in general made some incredible passes to Nick Ward inside — he finished 7-8 on mostly easy feeds from his teammates.

Tom Izzo is clearly a wizard. The game marked his 14th win as the coach of the lower-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament, an all-time record. It was also quite possibly Michigan State’s best win of the year. Though they’ve won games against several quality teams, this was an absolute blowout against a top-30 KenPom Miami squad.

As I’ve written about, Michigan State is at its best in the NCAA tournament as the underdog. It may be continuing.

Three Stars

Miles Bridges showed exactly why he’ll be a top-10 pick in June — or, at least, close to it. He looked like a man among boys, winning 50-50 balls, whipping passes, and showing off his developing 3-point shot. Bridges finished with 18 points on 8-12 shooting, and hit two of his four attempts from deep. He nearly completed the double-double, finishing with 9 rebounds, and added 3 assists to his statline.

Nick Ward may mainly have been feasting on the feeds from his teammates, but the freshman was a beast inside today. The big man missed just one of his nine field goal attempts, and buried each of his 3 free throw attempts. He finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds on the night, in one of his better games on the year.

JaQuan Newton put in the best effort for the losing team in this one, though it’s tough to call him one of the stars in a 20-point loss. Miami was never really in the game after Michigan State’s run in the first half. The point guard finished with 16 points on 5-12 shooting, though, and added 3 assists and a pair of steals.

Highlights

Next Game

Izzo and his diaper dandies will move on to take on Kansas. Bill Self and company ran all over UC Davis in the 1-16 matchup; there will be a lot more talent on the opposition for their second round game. The matchup between Josh Jackson and Miles Bridges, in particular, will be one to keep an eye on. Stay tuned to FanSided for all your NCAA tournament needs.