Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball's 90-85 win over Penn State

Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball’s 90-85 win over Penn State

Posted by Admin January 16, 2025 Basketball

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1. Frankie Fidler with a big game just when MSU needed it

EAST LANSING – Every time the Spartans needed a bucket in the second half Wednesday, Frankie Fidler seemed to give it to them. Fidler, who rediscovered his mojo Sunday at Northwestern, was the difference in fending off Penn State, 90-85, at home on Wednesday night.

Fidler, who hadn’t scored in double figures in a Big Ten game yet, had 14 of his 18 points in the second half, often countering a Penn State bucket as the Nittany Lions nipped at MSU’s heels. Six of his second-half points came on his own offensive rebounds and one on a 3-pointer that gave the Spartans a 58-51 lead. That was one of his four baskets that came after Penn State had cut the deficit to six or less on the other end. Fidler, as much as anyone, never let the game get to within a position, which, given the performances and shot-making of Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr., D’Marco Dunn and Zach Hicks, kept this game from really coming down to the wire.

Fidler’s final tally: A season-best 18 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists.

MSU brought him in with hopes that he could do this once in a while. He delivered his first headlining performance on a night when MSU probably doesn’t win without it.

A loss to Penn State at home is the sort of defeat that can burn you in a Big Ten title chase and ding your resume when you’re hunting a favorable seed in March. As much as anything, it would’ve put a dent in all the positive vibes surrounding this MSU team.

It would be a regrettable loss, even if the Nittany Lions aren’t a bad team. That was pretty clear Wednesday, though the Spartans weren’t as sharp as they’ve been on other nights.

That’s 10 straight wins by MSU — for the first time in six seasons — heading into a showdown with Illinois on Sunday. Without Fidler, who’d become MSU’s 10th man before playing 20 minutes Wednesday, that streak likely would’ve ended at nine.

2. Offensive rebounding and running saved the Spartans

Among the primary reasons MSU has recaptured its pre-pandemic pixie dust this season is how the Spartans rebound and run — like old times.

That’s a big reason they survived Wednesday, on a night when they struggled to pull away, didn’t play their emerging point guard down the stretch, and didn’t shoot as well as their opponent.

What the Spartans did do was pull down 15 offensive rebounds (to Penn State’s eight), which produced 23 second-chance points (to Penn State’s six), and score 20 points on the break, helped by forcing 14 turnovers. The Spartans took care of the ball statistically better than it seemed, with only 10 turnovers themselves.

This is a game MSU very likely would have lost last year, just like at Ohio State a couple weeks ago. You can avoid upsets on off nights against tricky and feisty opponents by still doing your staples at a high level — rebounding and running. That saved them Wednesday.

3. And now, Illinois

MSU hasn’t lost since the Maui Invitational, but the Spartans also haven’t played a team currently rated in the top 30 by Kenpom since Kansas in Atlanta.

Illinois is very much that — the first opponent in a long while that MSU might also face in an Elite Eight or Final Four, and the first measuring stick of such quality since the Spartans started looking like they might be contenders themselves.

The truth about college basketball teams is usually discovered on the road, when the crowd can’t pick you up, when the calls tend to go against you, when the rims aren’t familiar. To that end, MSU has shown it can handle the middle and bottom tiers of the Big Ten in such settings. There will be plenty of more difficult road games ahead in February, but, at this point, we just need to see the Spartans against a big-time opponent, even if it’s in a happy-clappy environment.

MSU has proven it has a relatively high floor. Sunday’s matchup at noon at Breslin Center could tell us more about MSU’s ceiling.

The Illini are the highest ranked team in Kenpom — an analytics site that’s better measurement than the hasty groupthink produced by the Associated Press and Coaches polls. MSU began Wednesday night five spots lower than Illinois in Kenpom at No. 14, with Michigan in-between at 11.

Illinois is a high-ceiling team, featuring a gifted 6-foot-6 Lithuanian freshman guard in Kasparas Jakucionis (who missed a recent loss to USC) and 7-1 Croatian center Tomislav Ivisic, a sophomore who played last season professionally. It’s an entirely new roster from last season, but a good one.

In this new era of Big Ten basketball, when you play most teams once, MSU will see Illinois and Michigan both twice. If the Spartans are to win their first Big Ten title in five seasons, it’ll be every bit a legitimate title. We’ll get a better sense of that possibility Sunday.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.