No. 22 Michigan State escaped with a narrow 69-66 win over No. 14 Arkansas Saturday night in East Lansing.
Arkansas held a 39-36 lead at intermission, but came up just short at the end when Trevon Brazile missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game. Brazile who scored 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in the opener was in foul trouble all night and ended with 3 points and 2 rebounds in 16 minutes. John Calipari wasn't pleased with how his team played.
"They outfought us," Calipari said. "So it’s not good enough. And we had 5 rebounds offensively that if we make any one of them we win the game. It doesn’t matter right now because we had too many guys right now that started trying to do their own thing. And that’s what we needed to see in this game for me to say ‘You are not playing that way. Play that way and if I have to I’m going to leave you out of the game.’ And we had too many guys judging like in 8th grade the points they score."
The Spartans won the battle of boards 45-33 over the Hogs. Michigan State won the game despite the dismal 3-point shooting, 7% (1-14). For the game Michigan State shot 41% to 39 for the Razorbacks. Arkansas was shooting 50% at the intermission, but that tailed off in the final 20 minutes.
Calipari didn't blame Brazile or any other player on the final 3-point shot that missed to end the game.
"So the last one it’s not on the guys, it’s on me," Calipari said. "We were supposed to - I didn’t think they might fly out but they did. And we should have screened that guy and if we had he would have been wide open. So that’s on me. We thought we had a guy that might be open on an inbound play. It starts with Maleek (Thomas) and Darius (Acuff Jr.) and the way they played the guy out of bounds. We did what we’re supposed to do but I had them screen the wrong guy. I didn’t think they would slip out that way and they did. I told the guys right there that was on me. That I had them screen the wrong guy."
Thomas and Acuff topped the Hogs with 16 points each. Acuff added six assists. DJ Wagner chipped in 13 points while Billy Richmond Jr. had 8 points and 6 rebounds. Nick Pringle had 6 points and 7 boards before fouling out.
Cam Ward had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Michigan State. Coen Carr was next with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Jaxon Kohler, the Spartans leading scorer after two games, was held to 10 points and 7 rebounds. Jeremy Fears Jr. only had 4 points and 3 rebounds, but added 9 assists.
Arkansas' largest lead in the game was 39-34 with 34 seconds left in the first half. Their last lead was 42-40 with 17:09 remaining in the game. Michigan State had its largest lead at 66-58 with 5:21 remaining in the contest.
It was after the Spartans built their biggest lead that Arkansas started a rally. Malique Ewin hit a basket to pull within six at 66-60. Thomas followed with a 3-pointer making it 66-63 with 3:58 remaining in the game. Pringle then hit a field goal and a free throw to tie it at 66 with 1:41 left in regulation. But Carson Cooper hit a free throw and Fears added two more to win surviving Arkansas' last shot to tie the game.
Calipari felt the Spartans played harder at times and that was a difference in the game.
"They were outrunning us," Calipari said. "They had 12 points at halftime just outrunning us. And we talked about it. And so again when you find out that as you are building a team that guys instead of losing themselves in the team. What is the team meaning to them when they are lost in themselves and what they’re trying to do.
"And all of a sudden everybody is doing their own thing again and not concentrating on what we’re doing. It just didn’t look right. We start the game instead of throwing the ball ahead- it took me telling everybody, ’Throw the ball ahead and start lane touching’."
Calipari stated he was displeased with the number of 3-point shots.
"We took 28 3’s," Calipari said. "Come on - 28 - I mean and you lose. How about if 5 of those were 2’s and you’ve won. We fouled a 3-point shooter. We did everything we could to give them the game. Give them credit. They outrebounded us by 12 or 13 rebounds, and 19 offensive rebounds. Pretty good. And they were 1 of 14 from the 3 and still win. That it is tough, you are playing tough basketball."
Arkansas (1-1) will host Central Arkansas (1-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday night in Bud Walton Arena.