+3 and -3 from MSU vs. Notre Dame,

+3

1. Our ceiling is scary high. I get that it’s a Captain Obvious comment. But I never expected us to defend this well in the half-court, this soon. Attention to detail and ball-screen defense improved so much quicker than I expected. Bridges has been mediocre (for him) so far this year and we have had some ups and downs on offense. We are really good.

2. Defense, defense, defense. Give up 57, 51, and 45 in Oregon. Come back and get to play the #3 team in the country in KenPom adjusted defense. Lock them up too. Hold them to 63 points. This team is executing so much better on the defensive end than they did against Duke. And in a short amount of time. Scary, to be honest. That first half and last 8 minutes were the best D of the year because of who we did it against.

3. The physically tougher team won. We imposed our will on them, as we did to UNC, and the team that was bigger, faster, stronger, and longer, won the game. DOMINATED the boards, out-rebounding them 42-21. You better roll out 5 legit athletes if you want to hang against this team. If you got a stiff, he will get exposed (memo to Duncan Robinson).

-3

1. When you are playing this well, they are nitpicky things, to be honest, and there aren’t a whole lot. The Bridges transition to the wing continues to be a work in progress. I get the ankle injury, I get the new position, but I think he and Izzo would say he hasn’t played to the level of expectation. There will be nights where if he goes 6/15 and 1/7 from “3” with a few missed defensive assignments (5 straight points in the 2nd half), we might not win. We saw him attack more off the bounce in the 2nd half and better things started to happen. The expectations for him are crazy high and he hasn’t met them yet this year.

2. Start of the 2nd half lull on offense for the second straight game. It’s normally been turnovers as well as poor shot selection. Great first halves and have to work in the first TV time-out of the 2nd half to not give it right back. Would love for us to run some post sets for Bridges/Ward/Jackson early in the 2nd half to stop us from getting too jump-shot heavy.

3. Feel for Jaren Jackson. Has been the recipient of some tough foul calls which have put him back on the bench and not allowed him to get in the flow. We are so much better on both ends when he is in. Some of it has been maturity, some of it tough calls. Need him on the floor, especially on D. When one of your lottery picks goes for 5 points and 3 rebounds and you blow out the 5th ranked team, you understand how good you can be.

Coaches Corner

* It’s really fun to watch ND play offense. Not complicated. They are going to spread you out, ball screen you to death (with slips, pops, quick rolls, and stays), and their spacing is as good as anyone in basketball. If they see a mismatch, they make that player defend in space over and over. I’m a big Mike Brey fan, not only for knowing who he is and embracing his time at ND but for the way he coaches offense. I could watch them run half-court offense, especially with Farrell at the helm, for days. They will be a top 10 offensive team all year long. Imagine if they had a pick and pop big….

* The “scissors” set MSU ran in the last few minutes of the game when Bridges drove to the rim was a great one with that personnel. Bridges catches at 3 point line with lane wide due to X cut by guards and screen by bigs. He has the first option to go off the bounce. The 2nd option is the guards trying to get a rub on each other’s man and then a screen by the big. That often will get a corner flare for a “3” or a curl and elbow jumper. When Izzo says “punch” on the bench, that means they are going to run that set but enter into the post. Due to all the movement, opponents have a hard time helping and Ward can usually get a good look before a double comes. It’s a simple play, but with numerous reads, and MSU runs it a handful of times each game.

Crystal Ball

* After those two efforts against UNC and ND, we will see an awful lot about the maturity of this team by how they come out to play against Nebraska. The first ten minutes of that game will tell us how mature and hungry this team is able to be.

Extras

* Preparation. You could hear it in the player interviews. You could sense it in Coach’s voice. We prep for every game HARD, but this even seemed like an extra level. Any time they ran a little wrinkle out of a time out or a cetain set, we locked it up. We clearly wanted to get dribble hand-offs and rubs for Winston, Langford, and Bridges, which worked well.

* It’s not just that we get scoring from various guys, it’s that different guys can carry us for stretches. Langford has carried us for 8 or so minutes at a time, Cash for an entire half against UConn, Ward with a 6 point burst. It’s not just that they get a bucket it’s that they can carry us when others are struggling or in foul trouble.

* Gavin Schilling is not making the most of his minutes. I’ll leave it at that.

* Neither team in the bonus in the first half, a thing of beauty!

* Transition game continues to execute at a high level. 15 first half points. When ND took us out of it early in the 2nd (by making shots), we struggled a bit on O. Transition game is awfully important to us.

* Offensive numbers were great, 52%, 43%, 74%.

* The call on Bridges at 7:09 is the AWFUL CALL OF THE NIGHT nominee. He gets screened, partially legal. Wraps his arm around the player, his guy catches it anyway, he is out on defense anyway, and they call him for the meaningless contact. Best officials know what NOT to call

* One team was physical and the other had their will imposed upon them.

* Nice to see Notre Dame is an ACC team that plays the game the right way and with some type of integrity. After the joke soccer flail and flops we saw with Grayson Allen and then the Pinson flop off the phantom elbow, it was good to see there was some credibility left in that conference.