EAST LANSING– While No. 16 Michigan State wanted to ride the 30-point rivalry win a little longer, the Oregon Ducks looked determined from the start to pick up a signature road win. A dominant first half lifted UO to a 63-59 victory and handed MSU their first home loss of the season.
“We’re gonna get in tomorrow, we’re gonna watch the film on it,” said graduate guard Nyla Hampton. “But we have to take what we learned, learn those lessons, but everything else from this game we have to trash it, like we can’t have it going over into the next couple days.”
Here are the takeaways from the physical conference battle in the Breslin Center:
MSU Stuck in the Mud
Against the defensively stout Ducks, an aspect of their game that has kept them close against top teams and gotten them wins, MSU fell right into their game. For the first half, the Spartans shot 27.3% from the field and gave the ball away 16 times.
While MSU had opportunities driving the lane to the post, either there was a lid on the basket or a Duck sitting underneath to contest. The Spartans were held to 10 point in the paint in the first, putting them at minus 12 margin. Even though MSU flipped this into a plus two margin, the damage was done as it put them behind early.
“They’ve been very good defensively so that is definitely an element. They’re very big, a lot of size especially in the paint,” MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. “You know that first quarter, it was just hard to claw out of.”
MSU’s top scorers struggled early as well, with junior forward Grace VanSlooten and graduate guard Julia Ayrault combining for nine points and 4-13 shooting in the first half. The pair got going and finished with 14 each while Ayrault grabbed nine rebounds.
Hampton also found some daylight with eight points, three rebounds, and two steals, yet the 35-23 halftime deficit proved too tall. After putting up 88 points against Michigan on the road, the Ducks contain MSU to 59. This is the same total MSU had in the second half against UM.
“In a league as good as ours it’s hard to bounce back into games when you have slow starts like that,” Hampton said. “It was really mostly on us, you know our player movement wasn’t really there, our ball movement wasn’t there, little things we have to fix ourselves.”
If other teams in the Big Ten or the NCAA tournament commit to an aggressive press against the Spartans, it could prove dangerous. On the other hand, this is a good time for MSU to run into a defense like UO’s and could serve as a learning experience.
Ducks Offense Does Enough
While UO also committed a fair amount of turnovers with 20 on the night and were denied by six blocks, all around efficient shooting was their key. The Ducks were selective in their three-point shots in the first half and it paid off when they hit at a 4-5 clip.
They finished 42.9% from three in contrast to a 4-16 outside shooting performance from the Spartans. Unfortunately for MSU, the Ducks turned around their season average of 28.9% from three, which is last in the B1G. Overall, UO shot 43.4% from the field and spread the wealth with seven Ducks scoring at least five. Graduate guard Peyton Scott finished the night as the Ducks leading scorer with 12 points.
“I mean if you’re not making any shots it puts a ton of pressure on your defense all the time,” Fralick said. “You can’t get into your press or your in-transition defense consistently, so very connected game.. I think the better offense you play, the better defense you play.”
Senior center Phillipina Kyei, who stands at 6’8” underneath the rim, made a massive difference with nine points, ten boards, and three blocks. While UO went extremely cold in the fourth quarter, the Spartans did not find enough juice on the other end to complete the comeback.
“We know she’s [Kyei] just a tough matchup, she’s a pretty unique matchup,” Fralick said. “We were trying to get some help on her but our help was late, right, then your helps late then everybody’s open.”
Spartans Stay Alive but Fall Short
Down 15 going into the final 10 minutes, MSU needed to pull together an almost perfect quarter of basketball to earn another come from behind win. While it looked promising at first, the Spartans found themselves out of opportunities to get it done.
“It all came from just staying together, through the whole game we’re talking to each other,” Hampton said. “I think in that fourth quarter we really started to do it, like we all got on the same page and kinda got to see more of us playing Michigan State basketball.”
MSU outscored UO 19-8 in the quarter and cut it to a three-point game midway through but suddenly lost their touch. The Spartans only scored four points in the last 4:01 and went 1-9 shooting.
The Spartans also had every chance to take the lead as the Ducks looked even worse, with zero field goals in the final 5:36. However, 6-8 from the free line became enough to push them over the finish line.
“It’s a long game, we felt that, we were down and all of a sudden it’s a one possession game with plenty of time left,” Fralick said. “If we could’ve put together a few more connected possessions but we have expectations around here doing that.”
While this Spartan team has shown the clutch gene through the season and there is no reason for panic, this one feels like it slipped through MSU’s fingertips. Instead of an ugly yet tough victory for MSU, the Ducks grabbed the quad one opportunity.
“Our chemistry outside is good, even our locker room after this game was we were like we’re good, we got each other, these are things that we can fix,” Hampton said. “It’ll just be really dialing in and really focusing on little things in practice.”
The Spartans will look to bounce back and pick up a win at Northwestern, with tip-off set for 3 p.m. and the radio broadcast available on Impact 89 FM.
