USC defeated No. 7 Michigan State 70-64 at Galen Center on Saturday in front of its largest crowd of the season. While a sizable portion of those 8,251 fans loudly repped green and white, the Trojans managed to flip the script for this Battle of Troy.
The Trojans entered the game as clear underdogs. They were 4-5 in conference play, fresh off Monday’s loss against crosstown rival UCLA, while Michigan State was 9-0 in the Big Ten and hadn’t tasted defeat in 67 days.
Head coach Eric Musselman has emphasized transition defense all season, but Michigan State’s offense isn’t just any Big Ten offense. The Spartans have one of the fastest paces of play in the nation, leading college basketball in fast-break points per game (18.5).
“The theme of transition defense was really important,” Musselman said after Saturday’s game, “but we didn’t want to lose our offensive rebounding aggressiveness… Although we wanted transition defense, we didn’t talk about sending three guys back. We just talked about your first three steps being sprinter steps, but still going to the offensive glass.”
Adapting to Michigan State’s speed without dissolving its own offense was key in accomplishing a Spartan takedown. Musselman sent the Trojans into battle with a new starting lineup as graduate forward Rashaun Agee replaced graduate forward Josh Cohen.
The Trojans’ fresh lineup pinned down Michigan State for the first three minutes of the game, keeping the Spartans scoreless. Junior guard Desmond Claude had an immediate impact, scoring or assisting on 10 of USC’s initial 15 points.
Claude and graduate guard Chibuzo Agbo combined for a quick 9-0 run that pushed USC up 22-7 in the first seven minutes; Claude accounted for 11 of the Trojans’ points.
“You can’t play an 18-2 team and fall behind,” Musselman said. “If you do… then they go to their bench. If we didn’t get off to a good start, we probably… can lose this game by 12 or 14.”
Despite a strong start from USC, Michigan State didn’t go down without a fight. The Spartans finally generated momentum with its own 9-0 run after a foul on graduate forward Matt Knowling – playing his first minutes since suffering a foot injury in December – sent Spartan freshman guard Jase Richardson collecting two baskets at the free-throw line. Michigan State reminded USC of its fast-paced identity and put up three driving layups in the next two minutes.
If four scoreless minutes and a sea of “go green, go white!” chants weren’t enough to instill panic in Trojan fans, the collision that sent Claude, who leads the team in points (16.2) and assists (4.2) per game, hobbling to the locker room surely did.
Graduate guard Clark Slajchert subbed in to help steady the Trojan offense and Agbo continued to find open looks, collecting 9 points, a rebound and a steal before Claude’s heroic return to battle with five minutes left in the half.
“Once I settled down and calmed down, and I went to the [doctor] and checked to make sure everything was fine, I started to feel better,” Claude said. “I wasn’t going to miss this game… it was a big game that we needed… I had to step up.”
Claude played like nothing had happened, picking two more rebounds and an assist that helped the Trojans maintain a three-point lead into halftime. While a small margin, it foreshadowed victory, as USC is now 11-2 when leading at the break.
The Trojans didn’t ease up in the second half, which was crucial considering the depth on Michigan State’s bench. Not a single Spartan player averages more than 26 minutes on the court per night, meanwhile three of USC’s starters average 32 or more.
Musselman described Michigan State as “one of the deepest teams” he’s ever seen with sophomore forward Coen Carr and Richardson as two key bench players.
“They’re as good as anyone on their team,” Musselman said of Carr and Richardson. “We as a group really understand that the only way for us to win is to be ultra-focused. [We] may be out-talented at times, maybe deeper benches that we’re playing, just play for 40 minutes and see where it comes out.”
Despite Michigan State having a height advantage, something that Spartans’ head coach Tom Izzo credits to the Trojans’ win, USC fought physically for the entire game.
“They really did hurt us on the offensive glass, " Izzo said. “Our bigs, we knew was a matchup problem with their four men at [6-foot-7, 6-foot-6], athletic.”
The same feeling of panic that overwhelmed fans when Claude headed to the locker room in the first half returned when senior forward Saint Thomas soared over the first row of courtside seats in an attempt to grab the ball. Thomas got up after a few moments, grabbing at his thigh, but never subbed out the entire game.
“The games we tend to not come out physical, we tend to lose,” Agbo said. “And every time we play physical, big boy ball, we tend to win. So it just shows where our mind’s at each game.”
Thomas, redshirt freshman guard Wesley Yates III and Agbo each clocked in 38-plus minutes to defend against Michigan State’s deep bench. With forty seconds left in the game, Thomas launched a cross-court inbound pass to Yates, who slammed a dribble-free dunk that helped solidify a Trojans win.
Yates ended the game with five rebounds and 15 points, going 3-of-3 from the arc, and Thomas balanced his contributions across the box with eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.
USC plays back-to-back road games next week against Northwestern on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Purdue on Friday at 4 p.m. Pacific Time.