4 Takeaways From Michigan's Defensive Win vs. Michigan State in High-10 Matchup

[ad_1] To know how a lot this one stung Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, whose crew swept the season sequence towards in-state rival Michigan final season and had received seven in a row over the Wolverines on the Breslin Middle relationship to 2018, all anybody wanted to see was the consternation twisted into his face within the waning moments, the sport already out of attain. There stood Izzo, already the recipient of a technical foul, bellowing on the referee whereas flanked by assistant coach Saddi Washington, who was there to ensure the Corridor of Famer didn’t push issues too far.

A lot concerning the previous two-plus hours had irked Izzo. From his crew’s horrifically gradual begin within the opening half to what Michigan State believed was an unfair whistle from the officers. From a livid second-half comeback that lastly showcased what the Spartans appear to be at their greatest to the ultimate 5 minutes by which Izzo’s crew surrendered a backbreaking 20-7 run after briefly taking the lead.

This was arguably probably the most anticipated regular-season matchup between the Spartans and Wolverines in a long time, the highest-ranked battle this rivalry had ever seen, and for many of Friday night, Izzo knew that Michigan was the higher crew. The Wolverines led for practically 37 minutes in an eventual 83-71 win.

Listed below are my takeaways:

1. Matchup of old fashioned vs. new faculty swings towards Michigan EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo in the course of the second half towards Michigan at Breslin Middle on January 30, 2026. (Photograph by Rey Del Rio/Getty Photos)

As so many teaching icons have opted for retirement lately — from Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams to Jay Wright, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun, amongst others — it’s left Izzo as one of many main voices in faculty basketball, a long-toothed sage with extra expertise and extra success than seemingly everybody he faces. When points come up throughout the game, just like the current hullabaloo surrounding participant eligibility, Izzo’s is the voice that tends to chop by means of the noise like a knife.

Which is why, towards the top of Friday night time’s sport, it was so tough to not envision among the information conferences and different public boards Izzo has used to lament the switch portal lately, to rail towards the unfettered participant motion that continues to revolutionize roster constructing throughout the game. The Wolverines arrived on the Breslin Middle with a roster infused by the second-best switch portal haul within the nation, based on 247Sports, trailing solely St. John’s. Greater than 50 spots behind Michigan, at No. 56 total within the switch class rankings, sat the Spartans and their old-school coach.

Prefer it or not, the discrepancy in how these two rosters had been constructed advised the story of Friday’s sport. All three of the Wolverines’ main scorers had been high-priced additions through the switch portal, which speaks to go coach Dusty Might’s trendy stewardship of this system. Ahead Yaxel Lendeborg from UAB scored 26 factors and grabbed 12 rebounds, guard Elliot Cadeau from North Carolina scored 17 factors and dished out six assists and ahead Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois chipped in 12 factors and 4 rebounds. Even former UCLA heart Aday Mara contributed eight factors and 4 rebounds.

The Spartans, in the meantime, didn't get a single level from anybody who started their collegiate profession exterior of East Lansing, relying virtually solely on this system’s potential to develop younger expertise into mature stars. It’s a technique that has served Izzo effectively for ages and labored once more this 12 months with level guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and energy ahead Jaxon Kohler. However competing for nationwide championships is tough when different applications are extra keen to embrace the instruments at everybody’s disposal.

2. Yaxel Lendeborg should be extra assertive for Michigan to win all of it EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Yaxel Lendeborg dunks towards Michigan State at Breslin Middle on January 30, 2026. (Photograph by Rey Del Rio/Getty Photos)

There are such a lot of issues to love about Lendeborg, who got here to Michigan because the No. 1 total participant within the switch portal following two stellar seasons at UAB. His 6-foot-9, 240-pound body screams prototypical NBA wing, and his measurements aren’t far off from the physique sort of 1 LeBron James. He can, even at that dimension, deal with the ball like a guard and provoke offense when mandatory. There’s nothing to query about what he presents defensively, both, routinely flashing sufficient versatility and quickness to protect gamers of all styles and sizes.

But as apparent as Lendeborg’s abilities clearly are — he was extensively projected as a first-round decide in final 12 months’s NBA Draft had he determined to show professional as a substitute of transferring to Michigan — there are rumblings about his assertiveness in essential moments. Lendeborg is so unselfish, so keen to defer to his teammates, that he’s solely tried greater than 11 photographs in a sport twice since a non-conference win over La Salle on Dec. 21. From that day ahead, his scoring common is simply 11.9 factors per sport — respectable, actually, however removed from what most anticipated from a participant of his caliber.

A major chunk of the concern surrounding Lendeborg revolves across the 3-point line, the place he shot 35.7% for UAB final season solely to observe his proportion plummet to 30.3% to date this season. The micro view is much more regarding: Lendeborg entered Friday’s sport having solely made seven of his final 40 makes an attempt (17.5%) from past the arc after which shot 1-for-4 towards the Spartans, along with his lone make coming early within the first half.

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Given the breadth of Lendeborg’s enviable ability set, it’s simple to ascertain him scoring with ease at pivotal junctures, heaping the initiative on his personal shoulders. However other than one driving layup with 2:33 remaining — a basket that prolonged Michigan’s result in 71-65 — Lendeborg was largely quiet when the Wolverines had been teetering. Almost 9 minutes of sport time elapsed with out a discipline aim for Lendeborg within the second half amid his crew’s most pressure-packed stretch of the season. And whereas he helped safe the victory with six free throws when the rating was out of attain, in the end main the crew in scoring and rebounding, he wants to seek out extra consistency because the postseason approaches.

3. Overreliance on Fears hints at Michigan State’s ceiling EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr. drives to the basket towards Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg on January 30, 2026. (Photograph by Rey Del Rio/Getty Photos)

Simply as they've all season, Michigan State’s offensive possession started to fall into a well-recognized sample throughout Friday’s sport towards the Wolverines. Second after second, dribble after dribble, motion after motion, the present belonged to Fears, whose stranglehold on the ball by no means appeared to relinquish. He probed and penetrated to create his personal photographs. He slalomed his method round screens from the Spartans’ front-court towers. He drew fouls at a powerful fee to fabricate journeys to the free-throw line when every part else he and his teammates tried appeared to fail amid a primary half marred by 27% taking pictures.

Shut observers of the Spartans will know that nothing about this was significantly uncommon; it’s the best way Fears has been compelled to play all season. A obvious lack of depth at each guard positions signifies that Fears, a redshirt sophomore, shoulders one of many heaviest workloads within the Large Ten. He leads the crew in scoring at 14.1 factors per sport and ranks second nationally in assists with 8.9 per sport, trailing solely Purdue level guard Braden Smith in that class. He entered Friday’s sport having assisted on 51.6% of Michigan State’s discipline targets this season — the very best fee within the nation, based on KenPom — and ranks fifth within the Large Ten in PRPG! at 5.5, per T-Rank, which measures what number of factors a person contributes to his crew above what a replacement-level participant would produce.

There have been loads of nights when relying so closely on Fears labored simply high quality. He poured in 29 factors and dished out 9 assists in a victory over Rutgers, scored 23 factors and distributed 10 assists in a win over Indiana and chipped in 21 factors and 11 assists in a surprisingly aggressive victory over Cornell. Fears leads the KenPom race to win Large Ten Participant of the 12 months — just lately overtaking Smith in that class — for a motive.

However the method by which Friday’s sport unfolded saddled Fears as virtually the one offensive choice at Izzo’s disposal. It was Fears who scored 12 of the crew’s 26 factors within the opening half and Fears who was the one Spartan to make a couple of discipline aim throughout that stretch. Had small ahead Coen Carr not transformed a brief runner because the first-half buzzer expired, Fears would have been the lone Michigan State participant with greater than three factors on the break. Izzo and his workers will know that such a recipe may show problematic when attempting to mount a prolonged postseason run.

4. Michigan threw the early punch in a battle of elite defenses EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan State's Jaxon Kohler packing containers out Michigan's Morez Johnson Jr. on January 30, 2026. (Photograph by Rey Del Rio/Getty Photos)

Throughout a lot of Michigan’s unbelievable 19-1 begin to the season, which matches the most effective 20-game document in program historical past, equaling Ultimate 4-bound squads from the 2012-13 and 2018-19 campaigns, the Wolverines claimed the nation’s greatest protection. An infinite entrance line that includes three gamers listed at 6-feet-9 or taller — together with Mara, a 7-foot-3 behemoth — precipitated issues for seemingly each crew Michigan confronted. And starting with a 67-63 highway victory over TCU on Nov. 14, the Wolverines held 16 of their subsequent 18 opponents to 72 factors or fewer.

Slowly however certainly, although, and in trademark Izzo trend, the Spartans started leaning increasingly closely on their protection amid an equally spectacular stretch by which they received 19 of their first 21 video games. Except for an eyebrow-raising 114-97 victory over Cornell — a sport that proved to be a statistical outlier in additional methods than one — Izzo’s crew solely surrendered greater than 70 factors in a sport twice, with a type of cases coming in an extra time victory at Rutgers. By the point Michigan State tipped off towards Michigan on Friday night time, the Spartans had leapfrogged their in-state rivals to assert the stingiest protection within the nation, based on KenPom.

However that’s not fairly the impression most observers would have shaped after absorbing a primary half that included practically 18 minutes with Michigan within the lead. As a substitute, it was the visiting Wolverines who imposed themselves defensively within the early going to construct a bonus that swelled as massive as 18 factors. Tipped passes, jumped passing lanes and relentless physicality compelled the Spartans to commit 11 turnovers within the opening half, a sloppy stretch that was additional compounded by icy taking pictures, hitting three discipline targets in 16 makes an attempt to start the sport and solely seven within the first half total. Izzo stewed and stormed alongside the Spartans’ bench as he watched an opponent out-tough and out-execute his crew early — a rarity throughout his Corridor-of-Fame tenure.

4 ½. What’s subsequent? EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN: Michigan head coach Dusty Might in the course of the sport towards the Michigan State Spartans on January 30, 2026. (Photograph by Rey Del Rio/Getty Photos)

Each groups can have ample time to recuperate from the psychological and bodily problem that was Friday’s sport earlier than returning to the court docket subsequent week. The Spartans will journey to Minnesota (10-11 total, 3-7 Large Ten) for a tough take a look at on Feb. 4, whereas the Wolverines return house to host struggling Penn State (9-12 total, 0-10 Large Ten) on Feb. 5.

In some respects, each of these video games function demarcation traces for 2 applications that had been gifted extraordinarily favorable begins to convention play. Michigan, which entered the showdown with Michigan State having performed the 18th-toughest Large Ten slate, based on KenPom, is getting ready to embark on a ending stretch prone to embrace at the very least 4 extra ranked opponents — together with the mouthwatering non-conference tilt towards No. 4 Duke on a impartial ground subsequent month. And Michigan State, which has performed the league’s Seventeenth-toughest schedule, ought to face at the very least three extra ranked groups within the coming weeks, with two of these video games on the highway.

All the pieces culminates within the rematch between these groups at Crisler Middle on March 8, the ultimate day of the common season. It’s a sport that may effectively have important seeding implications for each the Large Ten event and the NCAA event.