Michigan State is coming off one of its best performances of the season, an 88-80 victory against Illinois at the Breslin Center.
As the Spartans prepared to take on Penn State Wednesday, Coach Tom Izzo took a look back at the Illinois win, stating that the Fighting Illini are “one of the most talented teams” not just in the Big Ten, but the entire country.
That was evident throughout the 40 minutes because Illinois didn’t necessarily play a bad game. The Illini made 11 3-pointers and had three players score in double digits.
“It was hard to believe that they made 11 threes and you won a game, but you won it because of the right reasons,” Izzo said when reflecting on Saturday’s win. “You won it because you didn’t turn the ball over. We did defend pretty well. They made some great threes. We rebounded the ball pretty well, one of the staples we have to have. Defend, rebound and we ran very well. Some points off turnovers, fast break points, we won all those categories."
Izzo knows that Michigan State has to continue to do that if they are going to continue to grow.
“Now can we carry this on?" asked Izzo. "You know, I’m embarrassed to say that the mark of a good coach is to get as much out of his players as he can get out of them. The mark of a good coach is to gain consistency within a program. I think over the years, we’ve been consistent. I don’t think we’ve been as consistent this year and that falls on me.”
Where that inconsistency happens is typically on the road. The Spartans have an excellent home record of 13-2 this season. They haven’t lost at the Breslin Center since Dec. 5, 2023. However, Michigan State is a mere 1-5 on the road, away from the friendly confines in East Lansing.
The Spartans will be looking for just their second road win of the season on Wednesday evening against Penn State at 6:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
Previewing the Nittany Lions
Penn State sits at 12-12 this season with a 6-7 conference record. Mike Rhoades is in his first season as the head coach of the Nittany Lions. They’ve won three of their last four games – the victories coming against Rutgers, Indiana and Iowa. Penn State is also 9-3 at home this season.
In the first meeting between these two teams, Michigan State ran Penn State out of the Breslin Center. The Spartans won in convincing fashion 92-61 as forward Malik Hall and guard Tyson Walker both scored 20-plus points.
However, Penn State is a “whole different” team now and is playing with better chemistry, according to Michigan State guard A.J. Hoggard, who scored ten points in the first meeting against the Nittany Lions on Jan. 4.
Hoggard is returning to his home state of Pennsylvania for this game. Hoggard, from a town in the east of the state, near Philadelphia, named Coatesville, is expecting to have family and friends in attendance.
“It means a lot,” Hoggard said about returning to his home state. “It’s just gonna be fun out there playing in front of family and friends.”
One of Penn State’s biggest strengths is its guard play. The 5-foot-11 Kanye Clary scored 21 points earlier this season against the Spartans. Clary leads the team in scoring as he is averaging 17.1 points per game. Another guard that can score the ball for Penn State is Ace Baldwin Jr. He’s scored at least 15 points in each of the last five games. Izzo noted that Penn State’s guard play is going to be a “great challenge” for Michigan State’s guards.
“They can do a lot of good things off the dribble,” Hoggard said about the Nittany Lions guard play. “They play in a lot of space and they're really elite guards. We just gotta go in there with the focus that we had on Saturday and just continue to raise our level and play at a high level.”
Baldwin brings another challenge to Michigan State but it’s on the defensive side. He averages just under three steals a game. Limiting turnovers could be a key for the Spartans if they want to walk out of State College with their second road victory of the season.
“We’ve been doing a good job of keeping the turnovers down,” Hoggard added. “We know they have a really good, talented defender in Ace Baldwin. We know we gotta go in there and take care of the ball.”
Michigan State’s last road game was one that many fans might want to forget. The Spartans had a 45-36 lead before Minnesota went on a 23-11 run in the final 13 minutes of the game to win 59-56.
Guard Jaden Akins and the Spartans hope to learn from that experience as they hit the road for the first time since that Minnesota loss.
“I feel like we were up in that game,” Akins said. “It was a winnable game. We just gotta know, going on the road, it’s a different type of atmosphere. You just gotta close games out. You gotta get the lead and keep it.”
After the pivotal win against Illinois this past weekend, Hoggard said that the team played desperate. That sense of desperation and feeling of their backs being against the wall is still there.
“We got something that we want to accomplish, so we gotta get some more wins,” Hoggard said. “We gotta string some things together. We want to finish out strong in the conference.”
Despite Penn State being in the bottom half of the Big Ten standings, Izzo knows that his team needs to bring energy and intensity, just like they did against Illinois.
“I’m excited,” Izzo said about the Penn State game. “I’m excited to see what we can do. But we need to go on the road and bring the same kind of intensity we did a couple days ago. And if we do, I like our chances. If we don’t, I don’t like our chances.”
