Zone Defense Continues to be Spartans' Kryptonite
The No. 11 Michigan State Spartans (19-5, 10-3) fell for the first time at home this season as the Indiana Hoosiers (15-10, 6-8) pulled off the upset victory, 71-67, Tuesday night. A defensive adjustment from Indiana cost the Spartans and head coach Tom Izzo a historical win.
The game represented an opportunity for Izzo to earn his record-breaking 354th career Big Ten victory that would have passed the late, great Bob Knight, former head coach of the Hoosiers. Indiana's defensive effort spoiled the night and handed the Spartans a third upset loss.
The Hoosiers came out to start the game in a man-to-man defense that allowed the Spartans to take a 20-8 lead midway through the first 10 minutes of the ballgame. Indiana then switched to a zone defense, which proved problematic for the Spartans, scoring just 47 points in the final 30 minutes.
"Teams know we like to run," said senior guard Jaden Akins after the game. "They [Indiana] just ran a press to slow us up, and they would get back in the zone to chew the clock, so they had a good game plan. ... Oregon zoned us, teams are going to zone us, we got to be able to make shots, so I got to get in the gym."
Akins finished the contest with 14 points on 6-15 shooting and 2-9 from 3-point range. He was unable to make it to the free throw line as his offense was largely limited to the perimeter.
The loss was largely suffered due to the continued shooting woes that have plagued the Spartans all season long. They shot 38.2% from the field (21-55) and a dreadful 17% from 3-point range, having to attempt 23 total triples and only making four of them.
Zone defense pressures teams to shoot more outside shots, specifically 3-pointers, which is something the Spartans have failed to figure out all season. Going into the contest, Michigan State ranked 348th in the country in 3-point percentage (29.3%) and was forced to take a lot of shots from downtown.
The Spartans have now lost three of their last four games and have taken a massive step backward in their search for a Big Ten regular season title. They will have another chance to bounce back on Saturday night when they visit the Illinois Fighting Illini (17-8, 9-6) at the State Farm Center, where they will look to sweep the season series.
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