By Aidan Joly
The first major event of the college basketball season was a great one, with Michigan State beating No. 4 Kentucky 86-77 in double overtime, followed by No. 6 Kansas grinding out a 69-64 win against No. 7 Duke at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Lots happened, let’s dive right into it.
A big part of why Michigan State willed themselves to a win on Tuesday night was the playcalling of Tom Izzo.
The Spartans were ready for this game, in part due to the loss to Gonzaga last Friday. Trailing 62-60 at the end of regulation, Izzo called for Malik Hall and the play was executed perfectly, with Hall getting past Oscar Tshiebwe and dunking it to tie the game with 3.7 seconds left.
It happened again at the end of the first overtime. Hall was able to break free on the final play of the first extra stanza and dunked again to tie it at 71 with 1.7 seconds to go. In the second overtime, with Tshiebwe having fouled out, a major loss for the Wildcats, the Spartans scored 15 points in the second overtime to earn the win.
These clutch plays will be what Michigan State needs all year. Mady Sissoko had two big plays during the second overtime – the junior has been a revelation for the Spartans the past two games after barely seeing any action his first two years.
Joey Hauser bounced back from a bad game against Gonzaga to score 23 points on 8-16 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. Hall had 20 points himself.
In what will undoubtedly be a tough Big Ten this season, Michigan State will have to continue to find ways to win games. It did that on Tuesday. In addition, this team has challenged itself in the nonconference, with Gonzaga, this game, a date with Villanova on Friday, playing in the Phil Knight Invitational next week (its first game will be against Alabama on Thanksgiving) and a road game against Notre Dame on November 30.
Lots of challenges and lots of opportunities to get better before league play starts.
In the second game of the night, it was the steadying influence of Jalen Wilson and Dajaun Harris, while freshman Gradey Dick introduced himself to the college basketball world with big plays down the stretch.
After being nearly invisible for nearly the entire second half, Dick hit a three with 2:21 to go to give the Jayhawks a 61-59 lead. After Duke’s Jeremy Roach answered with a three of his own, Dick had an alley-oop with 1:40 to go to give Kansas a 63-62 lead it would never relinquish, finishing the game on a 15-5 run.
Despite Dick being just a freshman, he showed the poise of an upperclassmen throughout the night and didn’t let a mistake here or there get to him, neither did Duke having the lead for the majority of the second half. This is a guy who will be great for this team all year.
Meanwhile, Wilson scored a career-high 25 points and tacked on 11 rebounds. However, it was Harris who provided what the Jayhawks needed. He had championship-level point guard play, running the offense smoothly and despite only having six points, was a major factor. He did dish out 10 assists.
What’s even more impressive is that the Jayhawks did this without head coach Bill Self and top assistant Kurtis Townsend, who are serving their four-game suspensions due to the 2017 infractions scandal. Assistant Norm Roberts ran the team on Tuesday.
The Jayhawks played hard and never got rattled, even when the execution wasn’t all there. Sometimes, winning ugly is what you need to do.
All four of these teams will be making noise and deep NCAA tournament runs come March. As it is every year for the unofficial kickoff of the season, it was fun to see these four programs come together for a great night of hoops.
AJ Hoops 