Michigan State University Athletics
Grinz On Green: Spartans Show Defensive Prowess In Victory
2/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist
With Denzel Valentine leading an offensive charge Michigan State hasn't seen for 30 years and a defense to match in Thursday night's 69-57 throttling of Wisconsin, the Spartans appear to be rounding into postseason form.
Valentine continued to make his case for national player-of-the year honors with 24 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. And while Valentine became the first Big Ten player in 20 seasons to score 20 points and hand out 10 assists in three consecutive games, freshman power forward Deyonta Davis and junior guard Eron Harris were MSU's "MVPs for the night -- they played tremendous defense," he said while taking his latest milestone in stride.
"That's a great honor," said Valentine, who had half of MSU's 20 assists on 26 baskets. "I'm just trying to play like I can, lead the team, play under control and keep winning."
The eighth-ranked Spartans fell short of 79.8 points-per-game they averaged going in, but they more than made up for it on the defensive end while snapping Wisconsin's league-leading, seven-game winning streak that began with a 77-76 victory against Michigan State in Madison on Jan. 17.
The Badgers made only 25 percent (7 of 28) of their shots from the floor in the first half and finished with 33.9-percent (20 of 59) accuracy.
The key defensive matchup was Davis against Wisconsin scoring leader Nigel Hayes, who scorched MSU for 25 points on 7-for-15 shooting in the first go-round. Still smarting from Hayes' post-game quote â€""No disrespect to (Davis), but it's not tough with him guarding me" â€" Davis, with help from Valentine and his teammates, flipped the script while holding him to a season-low five points on 1-for-13 shooting.
"We came out aggressive defensively, and the offense came and we got easy transition buckets," Valentine said of MSU's 14-3 start. "I think (Davis) took that as a challenge. You don't know because he doesn't express anything back, but the way he played you figured he took it a little bit personal."
Not one to wear his emotions on his sleeve, Davis perked up after his six-point, nine-rebound, three-block performance.
"It feels great, because I know that I helped my team get this win," he said. "I'm just going to come in (today), look at the film, see what I did wrong and fix my mistakes."
In addition to revisiting Hayes' comments, Davis also got a pep talk earlier in the week from former Spartan standout, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, who visited during the NBA All-Star break.
"He just told me, every game just give it my all, no let-ups," Davis said. "It goes along with playing basketball. It's how you come out and react to it."
The win vaulted MSU (22-5, 9-5 Big Ten) all the way from eighth place, past Wisconsin (16-10, 8-5) and into a four-way tie for fourth. And with Iowa's loss at Penn State on Wednesday and Minnesota's upset of Maryland Thursday night, the Spartans' chances of winning a share of the championship, given up for dead after last week's loss at Purdue, had a pulse.
Not that Coach Tom Izzo is holding out hope for that to happen.
Instead, Izzo mulled the possibilities of what his team can do in March if it what he saw it do against the Badgers wasn't a mirage.
Davis' work against Hayes, and his evolving ability to defend smaller, athletic forwards away from the post, may prove to be an important development if it continues.
"Deyonta's grown up a lot since the first game (against Wisconsin) and we did a little more helping," Izzo said. "We thought we'd put him on (Hayes) and put Zel on him some, which we did. With Deyonta, we wanted him to press up and make his length maybe bother him, and then try to get some help from our wings, which I thought we did a pretty good job of.
"So Deyonta deserves some credit, Eron Harris deserves a lot of credit and Denzel did a pretty good job. We covered things very well defensively."
Nothing makes Izzo happier "because as much as scoring is up…, we won a game the way you need to win a game as it gets to the end of the year," he said. "I thought the defense was unbelievable at times. That's the big thing for me right now, because when you get near tournament time the ‘my-bads' and the one-mistakes that you could accept during the year become more critical.
"We really said, ‘Hey, as you get to tournament time and it's one-and-done, one bad shooting night and you're out. So let's make sure that if there's one bad shooting night, maybe we survive that by an unbelievable defensive night.' Tonight, we didn't shoot bad (46.4 percent), we didn't shoot great, but I thought we were a very, very good defensively."
Harris made both of his 3-point shots and pitched in 10 points, but continues to transform himself into a defensive player.
"I came here as a scorer," said Harris, who transferred from West Virginia before last season. "I could always play defense, it just hadn't happened for me. But I knew my ability and this coaching staff has helped bring it out of me, playing in a system.
"I can't gamble. I have to stay solid, which is how you play system defense. I'm willing to learn it, I'm watching film and I'm able to use my athletic ability to do that. I've had to take myself back a little aggression-wise, and now it's time to get aggressive because I've grown as a player."
Going into the postseason with a complete package can only improve the Spartans' chances of accomplishing the lofty goals they set after last year's Final Four appearance.
"We're supposed to be able to win the championship and we know we can," Harris said. "You have to have a level of confidence to be such a high-scoring team and a good-defense-playing team. But you've got to play consistently.
"Tonight was a great night, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't finish well. But, that's who we are. We have the pieces of the puzzle, so we're going to use them. There's no secret in it. That's what's going to take there."
Valentine remains the catalyst on a team that is pinning its identity to its unselfishness.
"They've almost averaged more assists in each game than any other team I've had and that is incredible," Izzo said. "That speaks volumes of Denzel because he leads the way."
