Will Spartans’ early love of full-court press last all season?
Chris Solari
EAST LANSING —
That has been Tom Izzo’s mantra for nearly three decades.
He wants Michigan State basketball to turn said defense up a notch this season. And he’s willing to do something he hasn’t before with the guards he has now.
Pressure the ball baseline to baseline.
“Oh, it could definitely be good when we start picking up,” senior guard Tyson Walker said Sunday. “We got athletes, we got people who want to defend. So that’s always a good thing.”
That was perhaps the most notable development in the Spartans’ two exhibition games — particularly in Sunday’s 89-88 preseason loss to No. 10 Tennessee. No. 4 MSU played fullcourt defense much more frequently than it has in Izzo’s recent past, and he could deploy it even more as his team opens the regular season Monday at Breslin Center against James Madision (8:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).
The Spartans forced the Volunteers into 20 turnovers that resulted in 19 points. Tennessee was shorthanded, with starting guards Santiago Vescovi and Zakai Ziegler sitting out the exhibition. Walker plucked five of MSU’s 12 steals.
That came on the heels of the Spartans getting 11 steals and forcing Division II Hillsdale into 17 turnovers that led to 21 points in their 85-43 exhibition win Oct. 25k.
MSU’s opponents weren’t the only ones with turnover issues, however. The Spartans had nine in first 10:05, six of those coming while falling behind the Vols, 17-1, over the first 41⁄2 minutes. Izzo’s team finished with 17 turnovers for the game, though, with only six in the second half.
Defense wins championships.
They rallied back from an 18-point deficit midway through the first period by forcing 14 Tennessee giveaways in the period, all but one coming after the Vols’ hot start, to pull within three by halftime. MSU’s defense sparked a 3014 run over the final 9:45 of the opening half to get back in it.
“There was a reason they turned it over, too,”
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Izzo said. “Our defense was pretty good in the full court. In the half court, we weren’t very good. And that’s what we get to continue to work on.”
Along with Walker, Jeremy Fears Jr. and Tre Holloman each had two steals, while A.J. Hoggard had one. They all proved disruptive for the Vols attempting to bring the ball up the court.
An upturn in steals would be a major boost for MSU. The Spartans ranked 332nd out of 352 Division I teams last season at just 4.7 steals per game. They forced 9.79 turnovers per game, which ranked 341st.
“You don’t gotta get on nobody to try to guard,” Walker said of his teammates. “Everybody wants to do it, everybody wants to get that stop.”
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said he was impressed by the “physical cardio toughness” of the Spartans’ guards. Conditioning is something Walker echoed as to why more press defense could help MSU this fall as it chases Izzo’s second national title.
“I don’t get tired, I feel like” said Walker, who also tied for the MSU lead with 13 points and seven rebounds. “So that, for me, it’s more fun. It definitely keeps me even more engaged in the game, just wearing them down like people try to wear me down.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@ freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.