#12 Excel H Sports Spartans Derails Hoosiers NCAA Hopes

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

    The #12 Excel H Sports Ranked Michigan State Spartans led wire to wire to beat the Indiana Hoosiers 77-64 Sunday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Spartans sweep the Hoosiers after an 81-60 win in East Lansing on January 13. Michigan State is 24-5 on the season and 14-4 in the Big Ten and will host Rutgers on Thursday and travel to Michigan on Sunday in the final two games of the regular season. Michigan State has won four in a row and five of the last six.

   Indiana is 17-12 on the season and 8-10 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers have dropped four in a row and three of those games by double digits. The Hoosiers hosts Minnesota on Wednesday at 6:30 PM and travel to Ohio State at 5:30 PM. Time is running out for the Hoosiers to make their case for the NCAA Tournament after a bad home lost to Northwestern Last Tuesday and Indiana can’t afford to be swept by Minnesota who is 7-11 in the conference and beat the Hoosier in Minneapolis in early December.

   Jaxon Kohler and Jeremy Fears Jr. led the Spartans with 21 points apiece and Kur Teng added 18 points hitting 6-8 from three-point range. The Spartans were 25-51 from the field for 49% 12-24 from three-point range for 50% and 15-19 from the free throw line for 79%. Michigan State had 35 rebounds with 13 from Jaxon Kohler for his 12th double-double of the season and 14th game with double figure rebounds.

   The Spartans had 15 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 9 turnovers. Michigan State scored 22 points off its bench, 20 points in the paint, 12 second chance points, 10 points off turnovers and 7 fastbreak points. Coen Carr who is known for his high-flying dunks was held to 6 points and had 1 dunk and missed two others all on allyoops.

   Lamar Wilkerson scored 29 points and Tucker DeVries added 20 as they combined for 49 of the Hoosiers 64 points. Sam Alexis added 8 points, Nick Dorn scored 4 points, and Conor Enright scored 3 points. Jasai Miles, Reed Bailey and Tayton Conerway all played but did not score. Indiana went 22-56 from the field for 39%, 10-35 from three-point range for 28% and 10-13 from the free throw line for 77%.

   Indiana had 27 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 7 turnovers. The Hoosiers scored 24 points in the paint, 14 points off turnovers. 8 second chance points, 2 fastbreak points and no points off the bench. When only two players scored most of the points for the Hoosiers and nobody else was able to score it makes it for a long day and when at times the Hoosiers settling for outside shots when they were not falling made the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall crowd restless.

  Michigan State scored the first four points of the game and Indiana responded with a Tucker DeVries three pointer with 18:25 left in the first half. Michigan State led 11-5 with 16:08 left in the first half as Jaxon Kohler scored 9 of the Spartans 11 points in that stretch. Kur Teng took over as he drilled four three pointers and increased the Spartans lead and the Hoosiers could not get over the hump the entire game. Michigan State led 45-37 at halftime with 14 points from Kohler and 12 from Teng as the Spartans were 7-13 from downtown in the first half for 53% and 10-11 from the free throw line for 91%.

   Indiana had 13 first half points from Tucker DeVries and 10 from Lamar Wilkerson as the Hoosiers were 11-28 from the field for 39%, 6-20 from three-point range for 30% and 9-11 from the free throw line for 81%. Wilkerson and DeVries scored 26 of 27 second half points for the Hoosiers with Sam Alexis hitting a free throw. Michigan State scored 32 in the second half and Michigan State ends a two-game losing streak in Bloomington as the Hoosiers won have four the last five meetings against the Spartans in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

  Indiana is 2-11 against Quad 1 Teams, 3-1 against Quad 2, 5-0 against Quad 3 and 7-0 against Quad 4 teams. The Hoosiers are 38th in the net ranking, 52.0 in resume average, 36.1 in quality average and 47th wins against the bubble all metrics that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses to determine the 68 teams for the NCAA Tournament which will include 31 Automatic Conference Championship Bids and 37 At-Large Bids.

  The Hoosiers still have chances left with 2 regular season games left and at least one conference tournament game but if the Hoosiers are going to get into the tournament they need to win both regular season games and make a deep run in the Big Ten Tournament but it is going to be challenge for this Hoosier Team that has been inconsistent all season long.