Michigan State thumps Notre Dame: 3 key takeaways
By Chris Stone
Michigan State dominated Notre Dame on Thursday, so here’s what we learned.
Ever since losing 88-81 to the Duke Blue Devils in the Champions Classic, the Michigan State Spartans have looked like one of the top teams in the country. After taking down the PK80 over Thanksgiving weekend, the Spartans delivered another impressive outing on Thursday night, handling the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 81-63 at the Breslin Center.
As usual, matchups between two teams ranked in the top five can be pretty revealing about where each squad stands early in the season, so we figured we’d dive into some of the key takeaways from Thursday’s big contest.
1. The Spartans are one of the best defenses in the nation
Just four days after holding the North Carolina Tar Heels’ top-20 offense to 0.62 points per possession at the PK80, Michigan State dominated another one of the country’s most efficient scoring teams in East Lansing. Notre Dame’s offense entered Thursday’s contest averaging a raw 1.29 points per possession, the second-highest mark in Division I, per KenPom. The Spartans held them to a meager 0.98.
The centerpiece of Michigan State’s defensive effort was, as usual, its interior defense. The Spartans came into the game with the top 2-point defense in the country, allowing opponents to shoot just 33.9 percent inside the arc. On Thursday, Notre Dame managed 16 makes on 36 attempts (44.4 percent) after shooting 57.2 percent on 2s in the first six games of the season. Most importantly, Michigan State held the Irish’s leading scorer and post threat Bonzie Colson to 17 points on an inefficient 6-of-19 shooting.
The scary thing is the Spartans did it all with leading shot blocker Jaren Jackson Jr. battling foul trouble for most of the game. The freshman played only 14 minutes. Jackson’s one of the youngest freshmen in the class and is still learning how to defend without fouling, but if he figures it out, his defensive instincts and length are game-changing, which means this Michigan State defense is far from a finished product. That’s scary.
2. The Joshua Langford breakout is real
Most of the focus on Michigan State entering the season centered on sophomore Miles Bridges. It made sense. The 6-foot-7 wing made a surprising decision to return to school despite being a potential lottery pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. But from a college basketball perspective, it was difficult to imagine Bridges actually having a better season than he did in 2016-17 when he averaged 16.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while shooting 38.9 percent from 3. It was also tough to think Bridges would be much worse. And he hasn’t been.
Still, that puts the onus for improvement on other players on the Spartans’ roster. Yes, Jackson was a great addition to the frontcourt, but head coach Tom Izzo needed better play out of his backcourt if Michigan State was really going to make the leap from No. 9 seed to national title contender.
Well, 6-foot-5 guard Joshua Langford is delivering. The sophomore entered Thursday’s contest averaging 21.2 points per 40 minutes, up from 13.2 last season, and on a nearly identical true shooting percentage. The key for Langford has been getting to the free throw line at a higher rate, suggesting a more attacking offensive game plan than last season when 47.1 percent of his field goal attempts were 3s.
Against Notre Dame, Langford continued to flourish, scoring 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting in 29 minutes. Notably, his offense came neither from the 3-point line or the foul stripe. Instead, he was killer from the mid-range where he connected on five of his nine attempts. If Langford can maintain his efficiency as a three level scorer, Michigan State’s offense is in good shape.
3. Notre Dame may have been a tad overrated
Look, don’t take this the wrong way. The Irish are clearly a good basketball team, but they may have been a touch overrated after knocking off the Wichita State Shockers in the Maui Invitational finale. Notre Dame entered the season ranked No. 14 in the AP poll and No. 19 in our top 25 countdown, but the Irish were catapulted all the way to No. 5 in this week’s AP rankings.
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In some ways, it feels like the media voters simply didn’t know what to do with the Irish. They didn’t want to punish Wichita State too much for a 67-66 loss, but leaving the Shockers ahead of Notre Dame certainly would have led to an appearance in Gary Parrish’s Poll Attacks column, so instead of dropping Wichita State or risking public humiliation, they opted to skyrocket the Irish.
As Dennis Green said, though, “They are what we thought they were!” Notre Dame is an incredibly talented offensive basketball team, but the defense remains a real struggle. Michigan State pummeled the Irish to the tune of 1.27 points per possession while shooting 56.4 percent on 2s and 42.9 percent on 3s. If Notre Dame is going to make noise in big games, its offense is going to have to carry the day.