Michigan State basketball flashing elite defense, which has sparked 5-game win streak

EAST LANSING — Already beginning to assert its defensive prowess, Michigan State basketball’s quick hands seized control.

Four steals in five Penn State possessions late in the first half. One by Coen Carr leading to free throws for the freshman. One by Tyson Walker leading to an alley-oop dunk for Malik Hall. One by Hall leading to a Tre Holloman floater.

Those came as part of a 4-minute, 2-second flurry of thievery by the Spartans in which they plundered six of their 11 first-half steals. That set the tone for MSU’s thorough 92-61 throttling of the Nittany Lions on Thursday night.

“Coach kind of challenged us at the beginning of the game after we gave up some easy ones that we gotta play some defense. And then we turned it around,” Walker said in the locker room. “Us running always helps us with our offense. We start making shots and get the crowd into it.”

Their next goal is to take that defense — and a five-game win streak its helped craft — on the road and try and get the first true away win of the season for the Spartans. MSU (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) faces back-to-back road games, the first a 7:30 p.m. tipoff Sunday at Northwestern (10-3, 1-1).

“I said at the beginning of the year, I thought it was one of my best defensive teams ever. And that's starting to at least come a little bit now,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said after practice Friday. “That's been a big difference.”

The increased pressure the Spartans have created defensively the past five games, starting after dropping their first two Big Ten games in early December, has helped fix a lot of the problems that plagued them earlier in the season.

Slow starts have been replaced by strong surges off the opening tipoff, with MSU leading by eight points or more at intermission of each game and outscoring opponents, 218-111, in the first halves of those contests.

Outside shooting struggles vanished. After making just two of 31 3-point attempts in the first two games and shooting 29.5% from deep after their second Big Ten loss at Nebraska on Dec. 10, the Spartans have made 44.1% from behind the arc in the past five. They are averaging 89 points a game during the upswing.

But it all starts with defense.

Opponents are scoring just 63.4 points overall and shooting 26.6% from 3-point range and 36.9% overall. MSU is forcing 12.7 turnovers in the ongoing stretch to further frustrate foes.

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“We want to make sure that we're coming out and we're hitting the team first. And that's every way — offense, defense, rebounding, shooting, physicality,” said Hall, who tied a career high with 24 points against PSU. “We just want to set the tone. I think we've been doing a great job of that, and I want us to continue it, for sure.”

On Thursday, MSU flipped the script on a Penn State team that entered Breslin Center leading the Big Ten (and 30th nationally) at 9.3 steals per game. Walker alone had six in the first half, tying his career high, and Izzo was effusive in his praise for how senior center Mady Sissoko defended ball screens to help spark that.

“I think that we, 85-90% today, we did a very good job on the ball screen defense, especially because they set a lot of ball screens,” said Sissoko, who also tied a career high with 12 rebounds. “I think (Carson Cooper) did a very good job. When (Xavier Booker) was in there, too, he did a very good job. When myself was there, too. Collectively, we did a pretty good job with defending the ball screens.”

The Spartans finished the game with 13 swipes and turned 16 Nittany Lions turnovers into 24 points. They began the current streak by scoring 29 points off a season-high 15 steals in a blowout win over then-No. 6 Baylor on Dec. 16.

Last season, MSU ranked 332nd out of 352 teams at 4.7 steals and 341st with 9.79 turnovers forced per game. Izzo’s team this season is averaging 9.2 steals in its past five games and 7.6 for the season (106th nationally), forcing opponents into 13.4 giveaways a game (127th).

“We're not like a real gambling team,” Walker said. “But now, we're playing active with our hands on the ball. And it just leads to deflections. Then we got a lot of speed now to go get the loose balls.”

Seven Spartans have 10 or more steals on the season, and as a team they’ve combined for 107 already through 13 games. Walker leads MSU’s thievery corporation with 26 steals, while A.J. Hoggard has 15 and Jaden Akins 14. Those three combined for 104 of MSU's 161 steals all last season.

Izzo tried out a nickname for that trio of guards that is somewhat similar to another group of stingy Spartan defenders on the football field a decade ago.

“I think with those three guys, it might be the 'No-Drive Zone' or something,” Izzo joked.

The moniker might need some work, but Izzo also has pointed out how much his defense has allowed MSU’s transition game to soar in recent weeks. The Spartans have scored 20 or more fast-break points in four of the five games during the win streak, including 20 against Penn State. The Spartans eclipsed that total just three times over the first nine games this season.

The next step of growth Izzo wants is better rebounding, particularly in preventing offensive boards. That, he believes, will take the transition game to another level.

“That's what's kind of carrying us now. Our defense is good, it's getting our fast break going,” he said. “If we could rebound like we should, then our fast-break would be even better. So if there's a negative, we're not rebounding the ball real well, we haven't rebounded the ball really well.

“And part of it is physical bodies, and part of it is mentality. I can't change the bodies much right now, I can't grow a guy. But I can change the mentality.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball cranks up defense to spark 5-game win streak