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Welcome to The Final Four Is Not on the Schedule discussion board. A forum for the serious and casual MSU fan. Opinions welcome – stay respectful.
Gut check win for the good guys. Really needed that to coast through the rest of December. Time to rest and get healthy!
The Good:
1. AJ Hoggard is a Spartan Dawg. That’s how you put the team on your back and lead. Has the same fire as Draymond.
2. Tyson Walker stays aggressive even if shots aren’t falling. I love that.
3. Joey did yeoman work on the boards. Had a tough matchup with Lundy and Dread but kept competing.
4. 2nd half perimeter defense was stifling. Very impressive performance.
5. Hit almost all the clutch free throws down the stretch. Everyone on this team, even Sissoko, can shoot at least decently.
6. Overall this team took an early punch from PSU but fought back and was tougher when it counted.
The Bad:
1. Not a fan of the lineups with multiple non-scorers. I’d prefer Holloman and Whitens not on the floor at the same time. Puts a ton of stress on the other guys on the floor.
2. Pickett is a dynamic guard, but he owned the boards all night.
3. First half perimeter defense was not good. PSU missed some additional open looks early.
4. Looked like MSU tried a double team on occasion. That didn’t work great.
5. Continue to miss the versatility of Malik Hall. The offense gets stagnant and the defense looks lost on some possessions.
The Injured:
None. Let’s get Malik healthy.
I noticed a few things:
Walker had a fine game, but he appears to be feeling the effects of the schedule. Not getting the steals he would normally get and many of his shots are hitting the front of the rim. I think a much higher percentage of his shots will start falling in the near future.
PSU was able to get some easy buckets in the paint because Sissoko and Hauser had to help out teammates who were getting pushed around near the basket and would leave their own man open. Malik’s return will take care of that problem.
Hoggard has to playing as well as any PG in the conference.
I noticed a few things:
Walker had a fine game, but he appears to be feeling the effects of the schedule. Not getting the steals he would normally get and many of his shots are hitting the front of the rim. I think a much higher percentage of his shots will start falling in the near future.
PSU was able to get some easy buckets in the paint because Sissoko and Hauser had to help out teammates who were getting pushed around near the basket and would leave their own man open. Malik’s return will take care of that problem.
Hoggard has to playing as well as any PG in the conference.
Kohler’s defense is getting better.
Great summary, per usual!
Here's my hopes going forward:
1. AJ keeps playing with that type of controlled aggression. It's a tightrope with him. We don't want him overly-aggressive and out of control. We definitely don't want him being passive, as that takes away everything he can bring to the table. We need the controlled aggression and in your face leadership we saw for most of last night.
2. Tyson gets his legs back in this December stretch. He's playing great, just needs a little rest to get the pop back in his legs.
3. Jaden uses December to get back to 100%. He looks close now.
4. We get Malik back in January for B1G restart. He adds SO much to this team, and his return is going to do a lot for Joey as well. Joey has been giving us so much. December and Malik's return are going to do a lot to help him once we go into B1G
5. Brooks defense continues to improve. He looked good on that end last night. His D is improving at a rate I really did not expect. Jaden's re-injury is going to end up a positive for us in that it forced Brooks to mature faster, especially on the D end. His shooting will be needed, and playing D will keep him on the floor more and give him chances to shoot. He's going to win us a game at some point this season.
6. Mady's foul trouble in the first half last night prevented him from being too impactful. One of those early two was a horrible call. His second half ball screen defense was superb though. My hopes for B1G season are that he can regularly avoid the early two fouls, get his normal garbage buckets, rebound much better, and keep that ball screen D going. I do think he matches up better against true big 5s, and he's going to see more of those in B1G.
7. Kohler gave some nice minutes in the first half last night. We saw what we expected from him footwork-wise on a few of those post moves. But, I was most impressed when he got switched onto Pickett at one point, moved his feet well (obviously not his strength), and forced him into a tough fade away shot. The potential is there if he can just be average on D. For this season, we just need serviceable - not great.