Michigan State 65, Florida State 49 -- The Appling of My Eye
by Pete Rossman on Nov 30, 2011 9:30 PM CST
in Michigan State Spartans Basketball
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PrintThere was a time midway through the 2nd half where I was nervous -- I think you know when, Florida State had erased a 12-point Michigan State lead by finding room inside the paint to score. I was concerned, I'm pretty sure you were concerned as well.
However, for the last ten minutes of the game Florida State ceased focusing on the inside, MSU increased their steals...and everything fell into place. The Spartans had by far their best performance of the season tonight with a 65-49 victory over a Seminole team forecasted to be the third best in the ACC this season. With the victory the Spartans secured a Big Ten win in the B1G-ACC challenge for a third straight year, and life, as they say, is good. Let's break it down into the good, the bad, and the ugly.
THE GOOD:
- Keith Appling: He had a couple miscues, which will be covered
laternow (Edit - forgot to mention in the first draft, had some point guard growing pains, especially the held ball when he was taking instructions from Izzo, but less worse than it has been - P.R.). However, I think we've waited for Appling to have this sort of breakout performance, and did he ever. The damage: 24 points and 7 rebounds, a steal and 2 blocks. He was touted as a scorer out of Detroit Pershing, and for the first time this season he showed all facets of his offensive game -- full-court an quarter-court drives to the basket, threes, free throw shooting - all on display, and it was great. - Draymond Green: I think we might be a bit too hard on Draymond. His stroke from three isn't the prettiest, but it was effective: he scored 16 points in part of 2-5 three point shooting, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals to one turnover. I've said it before, I'll say it again. If Draymond's open and he has an open look, it's not the worst idea for him to shoot it. I think it was his best game this year, and as a bonus he became the 42nd Spartan to top 1,000 points for his career.
- Brandon Wood: He absolutely carried MSU through the first half when scoring was scarce. He also got his first double-double at MSU with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He was every bit the fifth-year senior Michigan State expected when they got him for one year from Valparaiso.
- The Jimmy V Speech. I can watch this a million times, and it will never get old.
THE BAD - The inside defense. Ugh, it was bad at times. Dan Dakich is one of ESPN's best color commentators, and he nailed it perfectly -- in the first half it always seemed like Payne was a bit late to the ball, and etc. That said, Florida State's strength was its post play, so that shouldn't be surprising. With that also said, why did they shy away from the inside? It seemed like they got down by six midway through the second half, got spooked, and started the jump shot parade. They went away from the inside; that only helped State.
- Not much else? The shooting was good today for MSU -- 42% from three, 75% of free throws. The Spartans only committed 12 turnovers. The normal bugaboos went away for MSU tonight.
THE UGLY - The cheerleader that was injured in the first half. That was a scary moment. Cheerleader Taylor Young fell and stopped moving off a pyramid during the first half, and the Breslin Center was dead quiet during that time. Thankfully she was able to move her arms and give a double thumbs up as she was wheeled off. Michigan State athletics has had too many neck injuries (gymnast Kathryn Mahoney was paralyzed last year in practice, hockey walk-on Branden Carney had feeling in his extremities after a neck injury this month) lately.
- Injuries in this game in general. Austin Thornton was playing very well tonight I thought, but suffered a broken jaw. He'll most likely be out for a while. Branden Dawson could have a sprained ankle. Brandon Wood has a tooth loose. What says Izzo to all this?
Same old Izzo. Not that he's glad his team's injured, but the toughness of it all. It's Ron Swanson-like.thesnews_sports State News SportsIzzo said Thornton was playing well before the jaw injury. Also said Dawson sprained his ankle and Wood has a tooth issue: "I loved it."
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PP-TPW
Believe it.
Appling as The Closer is the game’s most significant development.
Dude played a great two-way game against some serious athletes. Good sign.
Super impressed by Appling
I only got to watch the last 12 game minutes live (West Coaster), but Appling showed tonight that he can slice up a legit defense. That knowledge has to be a huge help to him and the team as a whole.
Can anyone speak to why Trice’s numbers are so quiet? Also, Nix’s stat line is hilariously awesome.
Trice played well
I love when he comes into the game. he’s sneaky on D and everyone gets better shots when he’s on the court.
Kind of reminds me of Aaron Craft last year, but thinner, and not as good defensively
Trice's stats might not show it
but he had a huge impact during a run we made in the 1st half. During a couple minute stretch he made a 3, took a charge, drove the lane and assisted on a 3, and then stole the ball and got the assist on a fastbreak layup.
Trice = Neitzel Circa 2004-2005 Season
Love the Ron Swanson reference from the article as well.
Do you need a dominating performance on both ends of the court?
There’s an App for that.
And yes this was the best performance since dismantling Purdue in the B1G tourney. This game reminded me of the run a few years ago when we took out USC, Kansas, Louisville, and Georgetown, just totally locking down the defensive end in the last 10 mins of games.
by Chitown Spartan on Nov 30, 2011 10:36 PM CST reply actions
That Louisville game was an absolute masterpiece.
I still remember the two-minute possession where we got five offensive rebounds in a row, finally tipping the ball in off the last one.
I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left-hand side.
Bradley-Terry rankings for college football and basketball: because there aren't enough computer rankings already.
Not trying to be a stickler...
But it was UConn, not Georgetown. I will never forget it because of what Durrell did to Stanley Robinson. That was a spectacular run though.
by G&W - The Only Way on Nov 30, 2011 11:59 PM CST up reply actions
That's one of my favorite highlights ever
I love the call of the play with Clark Kellogs “Oh my goodness!” followed by Nantz saying that “Ford Field is shaking!”
the bad? maybe?
Looking at the game flow on the espn I see 3 stretches of 3-4 minutes with 0 points scored. I felt too many times appling dribbled the air out of the ball while the other guys watched. Given that it was a slower paced defensive slug fest it might not be all that many possessions but still there were some frustrating offensive possessions. Given all the new faces and people learning to pay together I expect to see those stretches diminish as the season goes on.
Overall a well played game. It’s amazing what made 3s and FTs along with “only” 12 turnovers can do. Couple that with playing the rebounding game to a near draw (MSU +1) against a big FSU team and you’ll get a W.
BTW how many more times this year will dawson not log a rebound? Over under set about 1? I’m assuming his ankle was the culprit.
by The Baron Von Tito on Nov 30, 2011 10:59 PM CST reply actions
A point of concern
does anyone else think its concerning that we’re now into the season and guys still dont know our offensive plays? At one point in the 1st half it was Appling, Wood, Trice, Dawson, and Payne on the court, and we spent 10 seconds trying to get a play set up because only Appling knew what he was doing. It was almost comical watching them run around like chickens
Not with 6 new guys, no.
We also played 2 teams recently who were exclusively zone.
This is what the preseason is for.
I like it
when we win good games because then Admiral Akbar doesn’t have much to rag on
Rexrode...
….posted that Thornton does not have a broken jaw. And that Taylor Young was released from the hospital.
I missed the game, what did Nix look like? Especially on D.
I think Nix did his best work on D actually
Green and Payne were fairly ineffective as post defenders. I am concerned that Nix/Payne didn’t show up offensively against better competition. I’m afraid they’re only going to be able to do that against the cupcakes and that’ll be our achilles heel in March.
Will be good to see these guys get more plays under their belt. Last night it seemed they were running the same set over and over, I’d guess because they don’t have a lot of options at this point.
Missed a couple close in, solid defensively
2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 boards. And he’s definitely perfected that old man pick-up game move of knocking out the ball from behind after his guy drives by him.
"It was worth it. Every needle, every dose of medicine that I've taken. That's why you play the game. A chance to be on a Final Four team, a chance to win championships." Delvon Roe
by Ducking Delvon on Dec 1, 2011 8:06 AM CST up reply actions
Neal
It will be a very good decision if thought about to hard on Draymond for a better result..
One of the better games we've played in the last couple years
Our guards all brought it today. Wood, Appling and Trice all had a big impact on the game. It’s amazing how much better we look when we’re making some outside shots.
Some vintage Izzo air punching
Loved the way they responded after blowing the big lead, when FSU actually took the lead back. From that point, MSU went on a 12-2 run consisting of the steal/dunk by Wood (great play), a 3 by Green, 2 FTs by Appling, a tip-in from Green, and a 3 by Appling. Fitting that those 3 scored all the points in that run. Other thoughts:
-17 boards from the starting guards (Wood 10, App 7) is impressive.
-Playing rotation becoming a lot more tight (Trice and Nix only non-starters to play more than 10 minutes).
-Nix/Payne/Dawson combined for 3 rebounds in 59 minutes. That is insane and borders on impossible that we still outrebounded them.
-7 different players recorded a steal – I thought we showed some real quick hands on most of those. They weren’t just bad passes by FSU.
-Overall, I think that’s as satisfying a regular season non-conference win since…maybe Gonzaga in ’09 or Texas in ’08.
"It was worth it. Every needle, every dose of medicine that I've taken. That's why you play the game. A chance to be on a Final Four team, a chance to win championships." Delvon Roe
I think with the rebounding
The fact of the matter is that these front courts were pretty evenly matched. Bernard James and (surprise!) Draymond were the only ones who really excelled in rebounding, otherwise it was a battle on the boards. Most of the time the big guys all fought for the rebound and it ended up trickling out to about 15 feet, where Appling or Wood would come in and grab it. Glad to see we have guards that will do that!
Right
There were a lot of rebounds (even in the last 12 minutes) that our frontcourt created by keeping the ball alive down low and tipping it up or out.
Yeah.
MSU’s backcourt getting rebounds means that FSU’s frountcourt DIDN’T get them — that’s a pretty big win in and of itself.
by The Birchman on Dec 1, 2011 10:19 AM CST up reply actions
Woods got some hops
he mades some pretty athletic rebounds
by chuggingspartan on Dec 1, 2011 11:44 AM CST up reply actions
Anyone notice the bench standing?
With 6 mins left in the 1st half the bench was standing like it was the last few mins of a tourney game. They did it in the 2nd half too. And watching how they interact with each other-seems like this team is really close. Love the enthusiasm.
You can see Appling is the next flag carrier for the program. Anyone see when he hit that 3 in the 2nd half, left his arm out there and turned to the bench in celebration-only to have Izzo running at him screaming to get back on D. I love Spartan bball.
by Conor Boyle on Dec 1, 2011 8:29 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Two excellent points
This team has some chemistry and energy that was often lacking last year. Despite some rough patches, this team has been fun to watch and should only get better. Gotta love Appling play with some fire.
Some interesting and exciting numbers:
MSU Offensive efficiency: 108.3
FSU Offensive Efficiency: 77.3.
MSU Steal %: 16.7
MSU 3 Point %: 42.1
Fouls: 5 in first half, 6 in second half.
This was a thorough whomping, even if it didn’t look like it at times. We swept the four factors convincingly and scored well against a very defensive team. I love that we played such great defense and got so many steals while not fouling, that is how you get it done, and if we can play like that in the big ten, we’ll be very very hard to beat.
Outliers
A couple of other notes: after watching the replay: we got some calls last night, and the officiating largely favored our style of play (chalk one up for home court). Mostly fouls weren’t a problem for us, which hasn’t always been the case this year. Also, until proven otherwise that 3 point percentage is a huge outlier compared to our other games this season (admittedly super small sample). Its nice to know this group can occasionally drain it from outside though.
This was one of the better games I've seen MSU play in the last couple years.
FSU is a very good defensive team, and we shot the ball really well against them. It’s good to see some 3’s finally start falling.
Our half-court offense still needs some work though. In the first half, we got the ball into the post successfully, but Nix/Payne couldn’t finish. In the 2nd half, we couldn’t get the ball into the post. I have a feeling that interior offense is going to be our achilles heel this year.
"Everyone who drinks is not a poet. Maybe some of us drink because we're not poets." - Arthur Bach
quick thoughts
Glad the Taylor is ok, she’s now famous.
Our interior defense was a hot mess. Also, not much offense from the front court.
Against solid defenses we are going to have a problem. Can’t expect to hit 40% of our threes consistently. Way too much stagnation when we aren’t in transition. Our guys looked confused in the half court.
Trice played bigger than his stats.
Time for people to stop hating on Thornton. Even if he hadn’t played as well, he’s giving max effort all the time. If our other guys aren’t playing well enough to earn minutes, that’s on them, not Thornton.
Byrd looked slow on defense, hope his lateral movement picks up as he gets used to discomfort in his foot.
We can make free throws.
Good win against a tourney team. Now let’s do it again against Gonzaga in the Jud Bowl.
by msuduster on Dec 1, 2011 10:40 AM CST via mobile reply actions
Zebras
It was a great game to watch and brought back old times. I liked the way the zebras got together and figured out the rule that since Appling did not have control of the ball in the front court that it couldn’t be an over and back call (in the first half.) The best part of that was Big Ted Valentine screening Izzo out and keeping him out of the discussion. I didn’t realized that Ted had those kind of moves. And, the fact that Seth Greenberg didn’t know that rule in the VaTech-Minny game allowed Minny to take possession with only a few seconds left in the second half. The VaTech player never really had possession on the inbounds play and VaTech should have had the ball with a chance to go for the tying three. Bob Knight missed the call also, which Dakich and Tirico did not.
I noticed the same thing.
In the Minny game, the Va Tech player demonstrated even LESS possession than Appling (though if neither of them had possession, can you have less than zero?) and there was no argument from anyone — commentator, coach, or otherwise.
awesome
I thought the team looked great. This team is already so much better than last year’s team. Tough and gritty, but sometimes smooth. Reminds me of the old days. This team probably won’t win the Big10 because OSU is too good, but we can challenge for second and possibly get a 2 or 3 seed in the tourney. Super excited now.
I'm excited, too, but those are lofty expectations.
Consider that a 2-3 seed translate to roughly a 5-12 ranking. I love this team’s upside, but I’m not ready to go there yet.
A very nice game
We played really well on D, rebounded great, and shot well. There’s not much to complain about. Our interior D was shaky at times. I’m not sure if it got better because they stopped going inside or whether we switched from backing their players to fronting them. I know we started out playing behind their bigs and kept getting beaten on post moves. Maybe we switched to fronting and their front court players couldn’t get them the ball? Without a game tape I guess that’s just speculation.
Our backcourt had a really good game. I though Green played well – not great but well.
The guys who were supposed to be able to shoot finally showed they can shoot. Appling and Wood both looked good (well, Appling looked better than good) and Trice really looks good for a true freshman. Dawson had a great move to the bucket on his first offensive possession but came up a little short and then sort of disappeared – I didn’t know he’d injured his ankle until this morning but that’s probably the reason.
Nix and Payne were both in a funk all night offensively. Nix missed an uncontested layup on his first shot and after that seemed to give up on trying to score. He did contribute rebounding and D. I thought his defense was better than Payne’s, and actually pretty good. Speaking of whom, Payne had a rather off night on both ends. Everyone has those from time to time. Unless it develops into a pattern I’m not going to worry about it.
It's good to feel good about a win
Not a deceivingly close final margin.
FSU was likely worn out from their island trip last week but whatever, good signs from the guards. The team is coming along in baby steps.
I was anxious to see if AP could put 2 good games together and it looks like he has a ways to go to find consistency. You figure Nix will struggle against tall, athletic bigs but AP has to play better than that.
Good to see Pershing Keith and Valpo Wood for the first time, I hope it’s not the last.
I thought Dawson would excel in this game, it was the opposite but he’s allowed a bad outing or 2.
I wonder if AT will miss anytime and what that means for Byrd and BK. I thought AT played well. I’d prefer if he was at least a threat to make shot but he at least defended, rebounded and was a pest. There’s something to be said for the team play when he’s in the lineup.
I didn’t see all of the games but was most impressed by IU and UI(OSU is obviously great but Duke had Maui legs). Zeller is the real deal and makes things easier on both ends for IU. UI has a really good center and PG, they’d be lost without either but with them they look tough. Looking forward to Zeller vs Leonard when they match up.
Breaking News: Wisconsin has yet another team where at least 9 guys are 3pt shooters, Great. UNC not so great. There’s a reason MSU didn’t get blown away on the boat. I expect they’ll get smashed at Kentucky.
"Brick killed a guy! Did you throw a trident?"
Yeah Wisconsin is like a replicant machine
I’ve never seen a program that could maintain a steady state like that perpetually. They look and play the same every year not matter who graduates and who comes back. It would be something to admire if it weren’t for the fact that they’re Wisconsin.
by TheCrestedHelm on Dec 1, 2011 1:57 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Let me know when Bo Ryan makes a final four.
Until then they are just that annoying team in the Big Ten you have to deal with every year.
I swear they get a different goofy 6’11" white kid that can ball every year though.
Couple Thoughts
Grinded it out at home and Appling took over as a closer which we desperately needed good to see.
One thing we are missing is an athletic wing that can throw down a dunk or two (Gary Harris), but i’ll take this team which plays tough, rebounds, and defends over last years team anyday.
I love no longer watching Durrell Summer’s broke * camp out at the 3 pt line not doing a damn thing.
Dawson is that wing
Just had a bad night with a bum ankle.
Wood’s line is pretty reminiscent of Good Durrell before last season’s meltdown when he used to score and rebound.
"Brick killed a guy! Did you throw a trident?"
I hope Jeff Borzello isn't on the tourney committee
Not very high on MSU.
Probably just mad because he picked FSU but still.
http://eye-on-college-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/33605536
"Brick killed a guy! Did you throw a trident?"
Kenny K - Out for the year
Just read Kenny Kaminski is out for his Senior Year with a torn labrum….hurt it in football
by KansasCitySpartan on Dec 1, 2011 4:08 PM CST reply actions
Yup..
oldish news..msu recruits all required to suffer injuries that take them out for a year or more.
Seriously
It’s been a crazy run with the pre-freshman season serious injuries…
Seriously
Just in the past few seasons, we’ve seen Roe & now KK miss their senior season in HS, Byrd injured early, Payne was banged up before he ever set foot on campus, and of course D Anderson had a different tragedy strike him & his family.
It’s sometimes like Izzo has the Midas Touch when it comes to recruiting (or reverse Midas Touch, whichever one is worse).
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