You know what? That was pretty clearly Michigan State's best offensive performance of the season. Against the 6th most efficient defense in the country, MSU scored 76 points in 65 possessions. The resulting offensive efficiency mark of 116.9 is the second best number anyone's posted against the Boilermakers this year. (And the numbers aren't just a function of scoring buckets late, in auto-foul mode; MSU's offensive efficiency was up over 110 the entire game.)
That, despite the fact that Kalin Lucas was only able to convert 3 of 16 field goal attempts. His quickness may be mostly back, but he just doesn't have the explosiveness to convert around the rim the way he has in the past.
MSU held its turnover percentage below 20 (despite a few dubious offensive fouls contributing to the turnover total) and posted an offensive rebounding percentage close to 40. It wasn't a perfect performance, but the team was more than good enough on offense. They got the ball near the basket with frequency and knocked down 10 of 20 three-point attempts. Draymond Green and Delvon Roe were phenomenal, scoring a combined 37 points on 24 FGA.
The problem was, of course, on the other end, where the Purdue scorers simply could not be stopped. Roe defended JaJuan Johnson about as well you can do it and Johnson still went for 20 points on 13 FGA. E`Twaun Moore almost literally could not miss in the first half, finishing with 26 points on 18 FGA. The only big individual Boilermaker performance you can really pin on the MSU defense was Lewis Jackson's (19 points on just 9 FGA).
Purdue's offensive efficiency of 132.3 was the highest posted against MSU since the NCAA Tournament loss to Memphis in 2008. They were that good tonight.
For the second consecutive game, an opponent came out and posted a first-half eFG% mark in the 70% neighborhood. And, for the second consecutive game--in what appeared to be an extremely hostile environment--MSU didn't pack it in, fighting back to within striking distance in the final 10 minutes.
12-7 sucks. It most definitely sucks. But this team isn't done yet. The road gets quite a bit less rocky in the next 12 days: home to Michigan, home to Indiana, at Iowa. Go Green.
Update: Four factors graph FTR.