Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State's 85-69 loss to North Carolina in the NCAA tournament
Graham Couch
1. When the Spartans returned to earth Saturday, it was a hard landing. And just reality.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – No game this season made the gap between Michigan State and the very top of college basketball so clear: The Spartans just don’t quite have the dudes to keep up. Not enough scoring. Not enough easy buckets. Not enough ways to punish an opponent. Not at this level. Nobody like North Carolina’s Armando Bacot.
And so, despite an out-of-this world start when they threw their best punch and a resilient stretch in the second half when they made things interesting, the Spartans are done in the second round of the NCAA tournament, looking very much like a plucky 9 seed that ran out of juice and answers against a 1 seed in an 85-69 loss to the Tar Heels on Saturday — though, man, for parts of the last couple weeks, they looked like more.
Maybe MSU was a just a big man away. Maybe. Depends on the big man. Xavier Tillman, perhaps. Someone to counter Bacot. Or someone with size who’s a force around the rim, especially when the opposing team is in the middle of 23-3 run over the final 8 minutes of the first half, as North Carolina put together after the Spartans led 28-17.
North Carolina showed up to the fight and MSU never looked the better side again.
This wasn’t about effort or coaching in the moment. MSU, despite the excitement of last April, was a team with a ceiling. And we saw it Saturday.
The Spartans out-rebounded North Carolina, got 24 points from Tyson Walker, 17 (and nine rebounds) from Malik Hall and 11 points from Jaden Akins. They needed a better day from A.J. Hoggard. And less of one from North Carolina's Harrison Ingram, the X-factor as Izzo described him, a 31% 3-point shooter who hit 5-of-7 3s. Some of that was because of the attention the Spartans had to give Bacot.
MSU this season had three or four guys ready to start on a national championship team in various roles. Maybe only one, Walker, who you could count on to be a top two scorer on that sort of team.
This MSU squad played up to its best level down the stretch — in the second half against Minnesota, against Purdue, in a drubbing of Mississippi State on Thursday and then again Saturday, in its final voyage. MSU has enough to knock anyone on their heels. We saw it. But not enough to knock just anyone out. Probably not any of the 1 seeds in this NCAA tournament. Certainly not North Carolina, apparently.
The Spartans earned a 9 seed with their inconsistent play this season. So this was always going to be hard. It turned out to be too much.
2. For a while, it looked like MSU might have found another level
Yeah, I was fooled for a minute, too. But when I began to look at why the Spartans were off to the races, ahead 26-14 against the Tar Heels, I didn't thin it was sustainable. The only hope was that it was enough of a punch to keep MSU in front longer than they were, or that the Tar Heels were a weaker team than they turned out to be.
When two Mady Sissoko post-move buckets and an A.J. Hoggard 3-pointer from the wing are part of your successful attack, your fan bases has either sold its soul or reality is coming.
It came.
If you’re looking for a silver lining, at least MSU didn’t go out without throwing everything it had at the Tar Heels. The Spartans, for a little while, looked like a team that might be around for a long while. It turned out, they really only had about 12 minutes of that in them. And then prideful punch again in the second half. Not enough.
3. Freshman thoughts – the final edition
Xavier Booker and Coen Carr have seen it now — the level they need to reach to be major players at the top of the Big Ten and beyond the first game of the NCAA tournament. Now they’ve got to get there. Saturday’s loss to 1-seed North Carolina was a reminder that they’ve each got a ways to go and a big offseason ahead.
Carr, other than one aggressive fast break when he drew a foul and made a free throw, was mostly an observer during his short stints and, when he was out there with Sissoko, Carr’s lack of shooting and ball-handling and offensive acumen stood out. That’s his offseason: 1,000 shots a day, if there’s time for it. Lots of dribbling, too. Forget the dunks. Those will be there. His athleticism is special. But he needs a well-rounded game to for it to be worth what it should be. Right now, he’s mostly intriguing. Sometimes helpful. And a highlight reel.
Booker made serious strides during this season, from unplayable to usually a plus-player. We saw Saturday in his stints in both halves that he’s still got work to do in terms of strength and understanding to be an impact guy against the top guys and teams around.
But MSU’s coaches trust him playing key minutes in the second half of a second-around NCAA tournament game. And there’s a reason for that — beyond his killer 3-point shot, which he showed again against North Carolina with a triple over a defender to cut the deficit to 55-51. He mostly was solely at power forward Saturday, with Malik Hall guarding North Carolina center Armando Bacot when Hall and Booker were the pairing. When Bacot was out, Booker slid to the 5 spot. He should be the 4 man going forward — the guy walking into transition 3s and scoring in the paint. But there ought to be matchups and lineups where he’s the center next season. He ought to be ready for that more by then.
Booker is an NBA pro. Just not yet. Years from now, outsiders will look back at this MSU roster and see that Booker was on it and wonder why the Spartans didn’t do more. You might be wondering that now. Point being, if he keeps improving at the rate he did the last four months, he could be a dazzling weapon next season, likely his last in college basketball.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.