Michigan State fends off Oakland, 79-70, thanks to a nice game from Coen Carr
Carr scored a career high 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Spartans
Prior to Saturday, the Michigan State Spartans and Oakland Grizzlies have faced each other 23 times with the Spartans winning all 23 contests. Although the series is as lopsided as lopsided can be, it is still a rivalry game and often is more competitive than expected.
In games like these, the most important thing is just to get the win, and that is exactly what the Spartans did.
After a competitive first half, Michigan State started the second half strong and fended off a late charge for a slightly uncomfortable 79-70 win. But a win before Christmas is always nice.
Photo credit: Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated
Coen Carr scored a career high 22 points, 16 of which came in the second half, and grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Green and White. Carson Cooper scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds while fellow big man Jaxon Kohler posted his fourth consecutive double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Kohler now has as many double-doubles this season (eight) as in his first three years on campus combined.
Kur Teng came off the bench to score 10 points and dish out five assists in just 20 minutes of play.
Jeremy Fears Jr. scored just two points on one-for-six shooting and missed his only free throw on the front end of a one-and-one. Fears had just five assists in 30 minutes of play. The Spartan point guard found himself on Izzo's naughty list with just under three minutes to play and was even benched for 95 seconds in a two-possession game - but Michigan State was able to hold off the final push from Oakland.
As expected, Michigan State dominated the glass, outrebounding Oakland 42-26 including scoring 15 points off 15 offensive rebounds. The Spartans blocked a total of 11 shots, scored 42 points in the paint, and 12 points on the fastbreak.
Perhaps the most anticipated question on the minds of college basketball fans leading up to the annual matchup between the Spartans and Grizzlies was the design of the ugly Christmas sweaters worn by Coach Tom Izzo and Coach Greg Kampe.
This year, the coaches wore a pair of coordinating white sweaters featuring basketball hoops and reindeer. Each sweater featured a caricature of the coach along side an official.
Photo credit: Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated
On the sweater, Izzo appears to be arguing with the official and the image was framed with the words “naughty list.” In contrast, Kampe appears to be giving the official a fist bump and was listed as being on the "nice list."
The sweaters were designed by a friend of Lupe Izzo, Tom's wife.
It should be noted that Oakland finished with 21 team fouls resulting in 23 Spartan free throws while Michigan State was whistled for just 16 fouls resulting in only 13 free throws for the Grizzlies.
The Spartans got off to a solid start against the tricky Oakland zone by getting the ball inside to Kohler and Cooper for some easy baskets and offensive rebounds.
But after the first few possessions, the Oakland defense started to frustrate the Spartans. After an early 6-5 lead, Michigan State committed four turnovers and missed the first five attempted three-pointers on offense in the first seven minutes of the game.
On the defensive end, Oakland was able to hit a few early three-pointers, but the Golden Grizzlies were also able to get to the rim on multiple occasions for easy baskets. With just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half, Oakland held a 16-9 lead over the Spartans.
Michigan State then settled in and started to attack the zone a bit differently. After two early misses from deep, Carr started passing up threes and driving to the basket for some higher percentage shots.
In addition, Teng was able to provide a spark off the bench. He hit a corner three, got a put back off an offensive rebound, and provided an assist on a corner three for Scott which gave the Spartans their largest first half lead, 25-20.
But the Grizzlies refused to go down quietly. They answered the 14-4 Spartan run with a barrage of three-point baskets. Oakland hit four consecutive triples over a three-minute span to reclaim the lead at 32-30. The Grizzlies shot 6-for-14 (43%) from deep in the first half and 10-for-22 (45%) overall.
The Spartans shot just 6-for-22 from deep (27%) which helped Oakland to stay in the game.
The teams traded punches and baskets in the final four minutes of the half. But Fears was able to find Cooper in the paint on the final few possessions, resulting in a pair of dunks and the three-point play.
This allowed Michigan State to take a 39-36 lead into the half time locker room.
At the half, the Spartans had nine points from Kohler, eight from Carr, and seven from Cooper. Michigan State dominated the boards in the first half, 25-13, including scoring 10 points off nine offensive rebounds.
Michigan State emerged from the half-time locker room with improved focus, causing turnovers on the first two Oakland possessions and attacking the zone with more efficiency.
Carr and Teng hit back-to-back threes to push the lead to nine points, 45-36, two minutes into the half. After that, the Spartans were able to get to the rim with three consecutive layups. With 15 minutes remaining in the game, the Michigan State lead had reached 12 points.
Izzo went to his bench and the Spartans cooled off. Michigan State hit just one of the next six shots and Oakland was able to chip into the lead.
On six different occasions in the final nine minutes, Oakland was able to cut the lead down to just six points. While this put minimal pressure on the Spartans, the Grizzlies were not able to get any closer.
Carr scored eight of the Spartans' final 10 points, all in the paint, in the final four minutes of the game to seal the victory.
Michigan State now has a nine-day break around the Christmas holiday. The Spartans will return to action on Monday, Dec. 29 against Cornell at the Breslin Center for the final game of the non-conference season.