Michigan State rides program ‘calling card’ back to Sweet 16

[ad_1]

CLEVELAND — There’s a constant within the success the Michigan State men’s basketball program has achieved through the years. It’s that roll-up-your-sleeves defensive intensity.

There’s another constant for which the Spartans have grown accustomed over the last quarter of a century. That’s playing on the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The former showed itself when Michigan State needed it most during Sunday evening’s second-round game against New Mexico at Rocket Arena. That led to a 71-63 win over the Lobos that sent the Spartans to the Sweet 16 after a year’s absence.

“Obviously defense is one of our calling cards,” Michigan State redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. said. “We don’t have, I don’t really think technically you would say star players or stuff of that nature. We got a team effort. … We just got a team effort, so if we all play defense then that’s even better.”

The thing about Michigan State’s defense is that it’s the spark plug that ignites the offense as well. The engine was struggling to ignite through the first half, especially the first 10 minutes as New Mexico opened up its largest lead of the game at 24-14 on Donovan Dent’s jumper with 9:10 remaining.

That’s when the engine started to turn over for the Spartans. Once it got going, it carried Michigan State all the way to next Friday’s 7:09 p.m. South region semifinal against Ole Miss in Atlanta.

“Second half [of the first half], towards the last 10 minutes I think, was it some of our best basketball, some of our best defensive basketball,” Fears said. “First half was rough. We gave up a lot of easy layups and a lot of easy shots. … They got off to a hot start and, second half, we really just kind of flipped the switch, which we can’t — you got to start early — but at the same time, just proud of the guys when it matter, they stepped up.”

Michigan State went from down 10 to up 31-29 at halftime. The Spartans limited the Lobos to just two field goals over the final 9:10 of the half,…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/basketball/2025/03/24/cleveland-march-madness-michigan-state-sweet-16-new-mexico-ole-miss/82611904007/

Author :

Publish date : 2025-03-24 04:56:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.