Rebounding is driving Michigan State’s offensive improvement

Offensive rebounding has reshaped the Michigan State Spartans.

So far this season, Michigan State is living up to its lofty preseason expectations. The Spartans are 9-1 with wins over a pair of top 25 teams in North Carolina and Notre Dame. Advanced metrics are also a fan. They rank No. 2 at KenPom, No. 2 in T-Rank and No. 6 in ESPN’s BPI.

The locus of Michigan State’s improvement can obviously be tied to its defense. The Spartans have the second best unit in the nation based on adjusted defensive efficiency in large part because opponents are converting just 31.3 percent of their 2-point chances. They ranked 37th last season.

However, the team has also made a major leap on the offensive end, going from 58th in Division I to 14th, which is interesting because from a bird’s-eye-view looked at through the lens of Dean Oliver’s “Four Factors” — effective field goal percentage, turnover rate, offensive rebounding rate and free throw rate — this Michigan State team is nearly identical offensively to the 2016-17 iteration except in one important area:

Last season’s Spartans were the worst offensive rebounding Michigan State roster of the KenPom era, which dates back to 2001-02. This season’s squad is much better. The Spartans rank seventh nationally in offensive rebound rate and have bolstered the efficiency of their offensive output despite little movement in the other Four Factors simply by creating additional possessions.

Whether or not Michigan State is facing a quality defensive rebounding team hasn’t mattered. It has consistently been able to dominate opponents on the boards so far. In nearly every game, the Spartans have grabbed an above average percentage of their own misses when compared to their opponents’ other competition based on season averages:

A significant portion of this improvement obviously relates to personnel. Last season, 6-foot-7 Miles Bridges operated as a small ball power forward next to 6-foot-8 Nick Ward and the team’s only backup “big man” was 6-foot-6 forward Kenny Goins. Although Ward was one of the best offensive rebounders in the nation, Bridges and Goins were average or worse for their positions.

This season, Bridges has moved to small forward with the addition of 6-foot-11 freshman Jaren Jackson Jr. up front next to Ward. Jackson has been solid on the offensive glass already, posting a 10.8 percent offensive rebound rate and Ward’s dominance has continued. The Spartans also have a much deeper frontcourt. Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter returned from injuries and freshman Xavier Tillman is a new addition. All three players have helped on the boards and Goins role has been drastically reduced.

There also seems to be a strategic element reflected by improved offensive rebound rates for both Bridges and Goins. Despite going from power to small forward — a move that would usually come with a reduced role on the offensive glass — Bridges is grabbing a higher percentage of his team’s misses this season. Goins, too, has made a leap in scarce minutes, grabbing 12.0 percent of Michigan State’s misses when he’s on the floor compared to 7.4 percent last season.

Head coach Tom Izzo may have recognized hitting the offensive boards last season was a fruitless endeavor, opting to get back in transition instead, but now with a talent advantage up front, his team is going after their own misses relentlessly.

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Whether a personnel move or a schematic one, the decision to crash the offensive boards has paid off for Michigan State. Coming into the season, turnovers appeared to be the team’s biggest concern and that hasn’t changed, but the second chances added from offensive rebounds has papered over some of those worries and propelled the Spartans into Final Four contention.