It took third-ranked Michigan State all of four seconds to take the lead in its matchup against Binghamton on Saturday. The Spartans gained possession off the tip and sophomore guard Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn Jr. found senior guard Denzel Valentine for an alley-oop. The BU men’s basketball team (2-5) failed to pose any threat from the onset as it was throttled, 76-33, by a dominant Spartan squad, one of the best teams in the entire NCAA.
Michigan State held Binghamton to shooting just 16.7 percent from the field — the lowest allowed in any Division I game so far this season. The Bearcats’ 33 points additionally set a program record for fewest points in a game during BU’s Division I era. In the first half, Binghamton scored just 12 points and didn’t crack double-digits until 1:10 left, when sophomore forward Dusan Perovic drained a three-pointer to make the score 38-12.
MSU entered the contest allowing just 58.8 points per game against a tough group of opponents including No. 4 Kansas and Louisville. Binghamton, however, only exceeded half that total with 2:44 to play.
“You get an opportunity to try to execute against a very big, physical, defensive-minded team,” Binghamton head coach Tommy Dempsey said. “I thought we actually executed pretty well, we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket. You come in thinking, you know, if you make some shots you can be competitive. But when you shoot like we did, it just gets out of hand.”
The Spartans’ strong start proved to be foreboding, as Valentine knocked down a jumper and hit two free-throws to lead Michigan State on a 9-0 run to start the game, before BU freshman guard Everson Davis put the Bearcats on the board with 16:34 left in the half. Sophomore forward Willie Rodriguez, who prior to the game had averaged 17.0 points per contest, shot 2-11 from the field to tally six points in 24 minutes.
“The speed that they’re playing at is the best I’ve seen in a while,” Dempsey said. “Getting the ball up and down the court, they don’t take bad shots, they play very well together, and they’re physical in the post … The speed of their wings getting up the court, and then obviously Nairn can fly the ball up the court.”
On the defensive side, the Bearcats’ play was relatively stronger, as they held Michigan State to 26.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Spartans had netted 39 percent of 3-pointer attempts in their first eight games.
Following the game, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo noted that despite the score, he was impressed with the young Binghamton squad.
“I felt for Binghamton, watching them on film they are a really well-coached team,” Izzo said according to msuspartans.com. “I mean that sincerely. They run a lot of good stuff they just missed shots. I thought we did defend well today.”
Izzo, Michigan State’s head coach since 1995, led the Spartans to their seventh Final Four under his tenure last season. But the veteran coach was also quick to point out what he felt was a lackluster offensive performance of their own.
“I thought offensively they did a better job on us than we did on them,” Izzo said to msuspartans.com. “We did miss some shots, we had some open looks. That was the only disappointing thing of the day for me.”
Despite the high standard Izzo sets for Michigan State, MSU held the Bearcats to less than half a point per possession.
“I thought we played really hard,” Dempsey said. “I thought we defended them fairly well. It’s hard when you’re not scoring, because we’re back in transition on almost every single possession.”
After Michigan State’s victory against Binghamton and Louisville this week, the Spartans jumped to the number one ranked team in the AP poll.
The Bearcats returned to action on Monday at Oakland. Despite four BU players scoring in double figures the Bearcats fell, 83-72. For complete coverage of the game, visit bupipedream.com/sports.