Delayed - was away much of the weekend. Also was at the game, not keeping my usual scorekeeping during the game as usual - and just cannot rewatch the game to record the flow. And I have not read anything on the Board yet.
First ... Well ... I am an inherent optimist ... that said ... good teams find ways to win and bad teams find ways to lose ... MSU found a way to win - like they have nearly every game this year ... and RU found a way to lose ... like they have all too often this season.
Second, I have consistently said RU cannot beat a single team in the Big 10 if NEITHER Harper NOR Bailey are good offensively. So ... Harper barely played - and probably should not have played (he had a couple of moments, but also obviously had an ankle issue, that also clearly was aggravated during the game. Watching him after he left the game for the last time (we had a direct view of him standing at the back of the huddle) and literally could not put any weight on his ankle, keeping his foot up off the floor. Bailey actually played quite well, in my opinion (yes a couple of defensive breakdowns, but still pretty solid), and he scored 18 points ... BUT He hit his 1st 2 FG's - great shots, NBA shots ... then missed his next 13 FG tries - surrounded by 8-8 FT, salvaging his scoring - and hit his last 2 FG's. Yet ... though RU needed a terrific and efficient scoring night from Bailey, obviously - and did not get it - RU STILL had its opportunities.
Third, RU had way too many scoring droughts - credit to MSU's solid fundamentally sound defense ... but also, just plain shooting woes. Many of Bailey's misses were good shots - several point blank attempts off his 7 offensive rebounds, a number of good pull-up jumpers (he did miss several very well defended tries - credit to MSU - mainly Coen Carr). But even then, the OTHER main culprits were as, or more, responsible for these droughts. In particular ... Martini and Acuff. Martini and Acuff were a combined 1-11 FG, 1-10 from 3. Each took ONE bad 3-point shot - that poor shot by each of them way too far in distance (Acuff's forced an unnecessary transition 3 at an important moment in the 1st half). Still, of their 8 unforced 3-point FG tries, ALLL were WIDE open ... and Acuff hit just the 1, missing his other 3 open 3-pointers, and Martini missed all his 4 unforced 3-pointers. The TERTIARY cause for several RU droughts was Sommerville - who I felt played a very good game, generally, actually - but though they were wide open, took and missed 2 3-pointers (still only has made 1 all season, I think), and missed a good and open 14' jumper face up in the middle of a crucial RU 2nd half drought, and took a bad 14' moderately open jumper in the middle of a 1st half drought (why bad? He was on the move and pulled up - a pull-up off the dribble is a bad shot for him, whereas a faceup and shoot of the same distance is fine, IMO).
Fourth, RU's defense was ... good enough, IMO. It was not great, but had a number of good to better than good moments. RU has played many much worse defensive games (i know, a low hurdle). And did allow too high a percentage of 2-point FG makes. Even so, IMO, RU's defense was solid - especially without Ogbole available in the post. Yes, MSU's post players went 7-8 FG from 2-poiunt range ... but those players only GOT 8 shots amongst the 4 4 and 5 players (Zapala, Kohler, Booker and Cooper) ... they average 18 FG attempts per game and against RU got just 8. I thought Sommerville, Grant ... and yes, even Martini and Bailey - played pretty solid "deny" defense, fronting very well. Also, I felt RU actually limited MSU's transition offense (though the box score indicated 21 fast break points ... it seemed fewer). And though MSU outrebounded RU by a lot (44-34), RU did better limiting MSU to 10 offensive rebounds, while grabbing 19 of their own offensive rebounds (led by Bailey's 7). Also, RU forced MSU into 15 turnovers (while committing just 6 themselves), and those MSU turnovers WERE forced: 10 steals - by practically everyone (Bailey, Williams, Derkack with 2 each, Sommerville, Acuff, Harper and Martini with 1 each). No, RU played good enough defense if Bailey, Martini and Acuff had hit just 2-3 more shots BETWEEN them (they were 5-28 combined - 8-28 and I think RU wins) - remember many of MSU's points were FT's at the end when RU was fouling to lengthen the game. If Martini and Acuff , or Bailey also, had hit just 2-3 more of their open shots earlier in the 1st and 2nd halves, then RU keeps MSU in the low 70's points - and has a good shot to win (not guaranteed, but good chance). I should not there was ONE real problem defensively: MSU has ONE player who is a consistently good 3-poin shooter (though he does not take a high volume of them) ... Richardson. He is the ONE MSU player you just cannot allow free and open 3-point looks. yet the RU defenders kept allowing him wide open looks, losing him (3-4 3-pointers) - Acuff and Williams were the 2 main culprits.
Fifth, I think in the end, Harper's absence was not the cause of the loss. Derkack had a career night - basically producing Harper type of all around shooting, scoring, rebounding, play-making: 26 points on 7-11 FG, 4-7 3-point, 8-9mFT. 4 rebounds, 2 steals ... and very high energy. The primary cause was 2-fold: A not good FG% night by Bailey PLUS awful open shooting by Acuff and Martini.
Individually:
Harper should probably not have been playing.
Bailey just missed shots, many of them good ones - otherwise I thought played well. Youy could tell how tired he was in the last 10 minutes of the game (played 39 minutes) - but still hit his FT's and made consistent effort on the backboard rebounding. He did get caught "looking" on one Coen Carr drive/alley oop - but Grant got caught once there also. Generally, FYI, Bailey defended against Holloman (3-7 FG and 3 turnovers), Akins (several RU players covered Akins - ho was just 3-14 FG) and Fears (4 turnovers).
Derkack had a career game - in every way, and willed RU to be competitive.
Grant deserves a comment: he played pretty well, I thought (9 points, 5 rebounds, a block - I thought 2 blocks actually, 2-4 from 3) ... and more importantly, I think he is going to be a REALLY good player - potentially RU finally has a freshman who has the real potential to bloom as a sophomore into a consistent double digit scorer, the way other teams have had, the way we hoped Simpson would have - but did not. I see Grant as a potential 11=12 ppg scorer next season, along with 6 reb/g and good defense - at the 4.
Williams was ... okay, no more.
Somerville was relatively solid on defense - especially denying the ball. He was physical, and though he did make errors, was consistently making great effort defensively. Offesnievly, he got decent shots - but took 3 bad shots (covered above).
Davis was ... not effective. Defensively he was fine. BVut he foolishly drove to the rim in transition against the 6'10" athletic Booker, with the predictable result of anb easy blocked shot ... he forced anotheer mid-range and missed a 3 -open, but he missed.
Acuff: Was terrible in a game RU needed him to be good. One of RU's worst defenders in this game, 1-6 FG, 1-5 from 3.
Martini: Actually played decently - EXCEPT ... sigh ... 0-5 3-pointers, mostly wide open.
Hayes was not damaging, at least. he got no open looks, did not do a lot on the court in his 12 minutes - but also did no damage I could see (i.e. his defense was not obviously bad this game).
Dortch ... sigh ... I would NOT have played him to give up his red shirt ... the 3 minutes he played could have been just as easily been given to Martini or Hayes - or even Davis (even of Davis was not playing well). He di get credit for a blocked shot and a rebound - and IS really tall ... but I did not see the point.
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