MSU vs Oakland

[MSUMatt28]

Tough game and strong comeback in the second half. Oakland looks like a legit team to me, and I'd say a heavy favorite win the Horizon and be one of those "teams nobody wants to play" in the first round (or 2) of the NCAAs.

Harris stepped up big and Forbes was on fire all game long. Concerns still are rebounding as we had a small edge there but OU more than held their own. I think Izzo stuck with Goins for too long in the second half when Davis was over there available on the bench. Then when Goins fouled out Davis promptly scored 5 big points in OT.

I think with Schilling back Izzo should look at playing 2 bigs as much as possible. Maybe 60 minutes combined for Costello, Schilling, and Davis, and then Bess, Clark, and Goins can fight it out for the remaining 20 when a different look at the 4 is needed.

 

[Sbee]

Gibson fouling out helped us on offense, we could go big and they couldn't cover us but we had to cover their small guys on the other end. I love Felders game, a lot of big step backs and hesitation moves, really a great player. I do think he gets away with some push offs, maybe he gets the benefit of the doubt because of his size but he creates space with the forearm a little bit.

 

[MSUMatt28]

The refs were pretty bad all the way around. 90 free throws combined? Even without OT the game took about 2 1/2 hours, 3 by the time OT was done.

Felder was a tough guard because despite his size he's really strong, can go left or right and can score at all 3 levels, deep, mid range pull ups, and taking it all the way. Nairn made him work for everything in the second half though.

 

[Sbee]

it was a free throw contest with a little basketball mixed in, happy for the win but those games aren't really that fun

 

[gotime909]

It was a horribly officiated game. 60+ touch fouls called. No thanks

 

[johnny2x2x]

The officials ruined a great basketball game. This stretch without Valentine is going to make is a much much better basketball team come February and March. These guys are being forced to step up and we are going to have a team with several star players instead of 1 now.

 

[MSUMatt28]

A couple of other things:

1) Costello choked...again with a chance to pretty much ice the game late in regulation from the foul line.

2) Ellis gave them some good extended minutes. It seemed like McQuaid was having trouble at both ends when at the point having to be matched up with Felder, and I think that led to more minutes for Ellis. I guess again nice to have depth and be able to roll with someone off your bench who happens to be on more (or matches up better) than another particular player on a given night. I guess the same thing in regards to going with Goins over Bess/Clark.

 

[Spartan23MSU]

Refs controlling a game has to stop. These guys need to be pulled aside and taught like little kids "when to blow the whistle and when to let them play" Kind of like a mom telling her 3 year old how to act at the grocery store. 90 free throws has to be a record or close to it, there is absolutely no excuse for that horseshit. Thats one of our biggest obstacles year in and year out is refs that are whistle happy at the slightest touch and the game never gets started. It almost always benefits the other team. ive never seen that many attempts in a college game. Im glad I only got to see overtime as I was on the road. Costello missed 1 free throw but had another double double, Im not scoffing at him on last nights game he was a good contributor. Harris had his coming out party so thats a real plus for us. Felder was a "2 star" coming out of HS. Either hes become all-world or the scouts missed something on that one. Forbes has one of the best shooting strokes ive ever seen at MSU. Im really glad we pulled that one out. Now we have a week to practice lineups before the Iowa game. "Now thats a toughy"