Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State's 90-78 win over Oakland in Detroit
1. Marcus Bingham Jr.’s rise to prominence continues in alley-oop fest
DETROIT – I don’t know what the record is for alley-oop dunks in a college basketball game, but Marcus Bingham Jr. might have come close on Tuesday night. I think he had five of them, as MSU figured out a soft spot in Oakland’s zone defense during its 90-78 win at Little Caesars Arena.
This was a game made for Bingham — against an opponent without great height or a rugged big man and playing a style of defense that allowed him to find openings on the glass and at the rim for his throw-down alley-oops. A year ago he wouldn’t have taken advantage of it.
This is one of many games this year that’s shown Bingham’s growth. Part of being a force as a big man and a reliable presence is taking advantage of favorable matchups. Bingham maximized it Tuesday — with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting (including those five oops), 12 rebounds (four offensive), four blocked shots and a steal in 26 minutes, which tied a season-high.
His final bucket, an offensive rebound on an air-balled 3 by Jaden Akins in the waning seconds, would have been a sixth alley-oop, if only he hadn’t landed before going back up for the dunk.
This is an entertaining MSU team, with a lot of intriguing parts. None more than Bingham, who’s changed his career trajectory as much as any senior at MSU in a while.
2. Freshman thoughts — the Oakland edition
I thought this was going to be a Max Christie kind of night, after he hit 3-pointers on two of the game’s first four possessions, helping MSU to an 8-0 lead. It didn’t turn out that way until late. He took only one more shot before halftime and six more the entire night, making two more second-half 3s and a late dunk ahead of the pack to give him 17 points for the game on eight shots.
I give Christie credit. For a young guy, who knows the world is expected of him, he doesn’t stress about getting off shots. If he did, we would have seen it Tuesday night. Because Oakland’s different zone defenses allowed for open looks, if you moved the ball to the open spot and had some patience. The best look wasn’t always going to be yours, but there were a lot of decent ones to be had for an impatient shooter. If Christie was forcing things, he would have taken double the shots he did and he wouldn’t be playing 30 minutes a night, like he did against Oakland.
Jaden Akins, like Christie, continues to play like he understands scoring is a secondary part of his role. He played 15 minutes, took four open shots, made a 3, grabbed two rebounds, dished two assists, and had one (non-credited) block from behind of Oakland’s Blake Lampman (from Haslett), which led to a fast-break dunk for MSU the other way and the Spartans’ biggest lead of the first half, 34-22.
What’s most telling of Akins’ role and what Tom Izzo thinks of him is what occurred early in the second half, after the Spartans gave up three offensive rebounds in one possession. Izzo angrily looked at his bench and immediately signaled for Akins to go in, replacing Christie. Akins was the answer as Izzo saw it. He turned to Akins again after Hoggard turned the ball over late on a 5-second inbounds call. Akins, as Izzo sees it, is often the answer.
Pierre Brooks got some minutes late Tuesday. I think MSU’s coaches thought the game was in the bag. He played a little more than a minute as things unraveled — not really his fault — and gave way to Gabe Brown. Brooks has made his way into the rotation during home games, but not yet away from Breslin.
3. Two sequences decided this game — showing traits that should carry over into the Big Ten
MSU didn’t control as much of this game as the score often indicated, thanks to the shot-making of Oakland’s Jalen Moore and Jamal Cain. But the Spartans made critical plays in spurts — on the defensive end, on the glass and with timely shooting. And that’s often how you win games.
For example, MSU led just 21-20 before a 12-2 run. The key sequence on that run came with MSU ahead 25-20. MSU forced a tough 3-point try late in the shot clock from Oakland’s Micah Parrish. Then Tyson Walker threw it ahead to Marcus Bingham, who was fouled at the rim. Bingham made the first free throw, Gabe Brown got the offensive rebound on the second shot and then got the ball back for a 3-pointer. Just like that, it’s 29-20 and MSU is back in control.
At the end of the half, after more shot-making by the Grizzlies narrowed MSU's advantage to 36-35, the Spartans scored 11 straight by forcing four straight Oakland turnovers and, in the middle of all that, taking advantage of a four-point possession on a put-back dunk from Brown which drew a Greg Kampe technical foul and two more free throws from Brown. Kampe thought Brown was above the cylinder when he caught the ball. Perhaps he was, but it was one of nine first-half offensive rebounds by MSU. When you’re creating those sorts of second chances, you’re eventually going to have spurts like this.
Those two runs showed the spurt-ability of this team. It’s being created by defense, rim-protection, rebounding and good point guard play. Those traits should travel into the Big Ten, even as the competition stiffens.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State basketball beats Oakland in Detroit: 3 quick takes
