Defend. Rebound. Run.
That’s the Michigan State Spartans‘ motto under head coach Tom Izzo. Is this year’s team playing up to that standard?
“When we beat Arkansas in my first year in the Great Eight is when the rebounding thing started. Then, we figured, we were such a bad shooting team that we better run because we couldn’t score any other way. And you have to defend the run, so the defend, rebound and run has been our motto now for 30 years. When Jeremy [Fears Jr.] pushes like he’s pushing, we can be an effective team. We still got to straighten some things out in our halfcourt at times, but we’re getting better,” Izzo said after Michigan State’s 81-60 win over Indiana in a press conference on Tuesday night.
“A couple guys getting better here, a couple guys there. We just got to get consistently better, and I think that’s what every coach hopes for, but if we’re defending, rebounding and running, and that’s going well, then we’re getting some things done.”
Michigan State out-rebounded Indiana, 33-16. Fears finished with a game-high 23 points and a game-high 10 assists, along with two steals; Jaxon Kohler had 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds; Jordan Scott and Kur Teng each added 11 points off the bench.
Teng, who knocked down a trio of 3-pointers against Indiana, has caught Izzo’s attention.
“Kur is starting to play better and better,” Izzo said after the game. “He struggles a little bit in a couple areas, but he can make shots and that really cures a lot of sins. I was happy for him and proud of him. If he’s making shots and Jeremy [Fears] can get the ball running, he got it up to him a couple times, and we nailed some 3-pointers on the break, and that was really a good thing for us.”
Teng has been a consistent part of Izzo’s rotation this season, with the sophomore guard averaging 7.5 points in 16.4 minutes per game, while shooting 36.1% from behind the arc.
As a collective whole, Michigan State’s defense is second in the Big Ten in opponent points (64.2 per game) and total rebounds (42.4 per game), tied for second in opponent field goal percentage (38.6%) and tied for sixth in opponent 3-point shooting percentage (30.4%).
The Tuesday night win, which moved the Spartans to 5-1 in Big Ten play, improved Michigan State to 15-2 on the season. Its only losses have come against No. 6-ranked Duke (15-1) and on the road against No. 8-ranked and still undefeated Nebraska.
Next up for Michigan State is a road matchup against Washington on Saturday night (6 p.m. ET).
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