Connect with us

Michigan

Overheard in Michigan State’s locker room: Lid on rim and strength in numbers

Published

on

Overheard in Michigan State’s locker room: Lid on rim and strength in numbers


EAST LANSING – Bowling Green owned the start but it was all Michigan State at the finish.

The Spartans (3-1) rebounded from a double-digit deficit and closed the game on an 18-0 run for an 86-72 win against the Falcons (1-3) on Saturday night at the Breslin Center.

Here are notable quotes from coach Tom Izzo and players following the game:

Izzo on Bowling Green going scoreless over the final 7:11 and missing its last nine field goal attempts: “I think we had something to do with it, I also think they wore down a little bit and I think that’s what we can do if our strength is in our numbers.”

Advertisement

Guard Jaden Akins on leading the Spartans with 13 points, 12 rebounds and six assists: “I feel like I played decent. I felt like I stayed aggressive throughout the game, no matter if I miss a couple shots or make some shots.”

Izzo on facing former Michigan State guard and captain Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn, who is a Bowling Green assistant coach: “It’s hard enough to coach against your former assistants but it’s really hard to coach against your former players.”

Forward Carson Cooper on scoring a career-high 12: “I’m not usually the go-to guy, the scorer on the team so being able to see that first shot go in just kind of instilled some confidence.”

Izzo on Bowling Green forward Marcus Johnson, who scored 13 of his game-high 23 points in the first half: “He wasn’t Marcus Johnson, he was Magic Johnson there for that early stretch, the shots he made.”

Izzo on not calling timeout early as Bowling Green made 15 of its first 20 field goals and led by 12: “I didn’t call any timeouts because the shots they were making, I did not think they could keep making them and they kept making them for a while. I do want to see this team, how they’re going to respond, what they’re going to do.”

Advertisement

Akins on Bowling Green’s first-half shooting: “We had a couple mistakes on defense but a lot of the time, they were just making good shots. I felt like we knew they couldn’t sustain that for the whole game so we were just trying to make sure they took tough shots and eventually they’d miss a couple.”

Izzo on starting forward Jaxon Kohler over Xaiver Booker: “I’m trying to help Book too. … We’re just working on how do we get that motor going all the time? Everybody talks about it but it is getting better.”

Booker on shooting just 2-for-14 from 3-point range through four games: “Just taking shots and not forcing it. I think I do a good job of that. It’s going to come.”

Forward Frankie Fidler on missing all five of his triple tries on Saturday to fall to 2-for-16 for the season: “I think there is kind of a lid on the rim right now but I’m getting great looks. Just continue to shoot and continue to be confident in my shot.”

Forward Coen Carr, who scored 11 points with a trio of thunderous dunks: “I don’t feel like my dunks are worth two points, I feel like it’s more than that. I feel like it’s worth two points and it’s worth help us get a stop on defense, it’s worth the other team not knowing what they’re calling on offense because the gym is screaming so loud.”

Advertisement

Izzo on Saturday’s performance after an eight-point loss to No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday: “I think we played better Tuesday night but Bowling Green came after us and did some things as well or harder than anybody we played Tuesday night too, to be very honest about it.”

Akins on the team’s strong finish against the Falcons: “We just had to lock in on defense and close the game out. That shows our fight and resilience.”



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Michigan

Dangerously cold wind chills for Michigan; Here’s timeline

Published

on

Dangerously cold wind chills for Michigan; Here’s timeline


Arctic air is going to move into Michigan early next week. The cold air will come with some wind, making dangerously cold wind chills.

The Arctic air will be steadily infiltrating Michigan’s air Sunday and Monday with the coldest temperatures Tuesday and early Wednesday morning.

Actual temperatures will plunge to five below zero to 15 below zero for most of us in Michigan. The wind won’t be extremely strong but strong enough to send wind chills much lower than the actual temperature.

Here is the wind chill forecast from Sunday evening to Wednesday afternoon.

Advertisement

Wind chill forecast from 7 p.m. Sunday to 1 p.m. Wednesday.NOAA

Now here is the wind chill forecast for some key time periods.

Wind chill forecast

Wind chill forecast at 7 p.m. Monday, January 20NOAA

Just below is the look at Tuesday morning. The wind chills will range between -15 and -25 degrees across Lower Michigan. The Upper Peninsula could have wind chills as low as -40 degrees.

Wind chill forecast

Wind chill forecast for 7 a.m. Tuesday, January 21NOAA

Wednesday morning could actually have the lowest wind chills over southeast Lower Michigan. The cold air will still be in place and the winds will be picking up.

Wind chill forecast

Wind chill forecast for 7 a.m. Wednesday, January 22NOAA

If you live in southeast Michigan here’s a breakdown of the wind chills.

Advertisement
Wind chill forecast

Detailed wind chill forecast from the National Weather Service at Detroit.NOAA

It doesn’t really matter where you live Monday through Wednesday. We will all have dangerously cold wind chills. You will only want to be outside for just a few minutes to get from one building to the next.



Source link

Continue Reading

Michigan

Root for a rival? Michigan fans in a quandary as Ohio State, Notre Dame clash

Published

on

Root for a rival? Michigan fans in a quandary as Ohio State, Notre Dame clash


Last season, Michigan football fans were cheering for the Wolverines in the national championship. This year, they’ll have to choose between two of their rivals.

It’s an unfortunate position, but some Michigan fans see a silver lining when Ohio State faces Notre Dame in Monday night’s championship game.

What almost all of them seem to agree on is which school they’d rather see win. A poll this writer posted on social media this week asking that question received more than 1,000 votes. More than 95 percent of people chose Notre Dame.

“I have never, never wanted Ohio State to win any game, no matter who they’re up against,” said Joe Fowler, who held Michigan football season tickets for more than 50 years.

Advertisement

It’s a sentiment shared by nearly all Michigan fans, several of whom claimed (in replies to the poll) that no self-respecting Wolverine devotee could ever pull for Ohio State. The Buckeyes are, unquestionably, Michigan’s top rival. Michigan State is next, at least currently, followed by Notre Dame.

Michigan and Notre Dame last played each other in 2019, a 45-14 Michigan win in Ann Arbor. That same day, Michigan announced the series would return with matchups in 2033 and 2034. The lack of recent games between the programs has only cooled a rivalry that already trailed Michigan-Ohio State in intensity.

As one Michigan fan wrote: “We dislike Notre Dame but hate Ohio (State).”

Don Svenson, an usher at various Michigan sporting events, doesn’t care for either team and may stick with a previous engagement instead of watching the game. He’ll be rooting for the Fighting Irish.

“Their football program is as storied as Michigan’s,” he said. “Also the more that I learn about Marcus Freeman, I see that he is more of a class act as opposed to Ryan Day.”

Advertisement

Several fans mentioned their preference for Freeman, Notre Dame’s third-year coach, over Day, who’s bothered Michigan fans with his comments and behavior since becoming Ohio State’s coach in 2019.

Many fans said they wished both teams could lose, with one saying it was like choosing between moldy cheese and rotten meat.

Notre Dame overcame a stunning loss to Northern Illinois to qualify for the inaugural 12-team playoff. Ohio State lost two regular-season games, including as a 20-point favorite at home against Michigan. Notre Dame and Ohio State each won three playoff games to reach the championship. Michigan went 15-0 last season to capture the trophy in what was the final season of the four-team playoff.

“The good news about (Monday’s) game is that no matter who wins, Michigan still has its national championship and a head-to-head win over the team in their previous meeting,” Michigan super fan Don Thomas said.

“And no matter who loses you get to laugh at ‘em. If Notre Dame loses, you can say they haven’t won (a national championship) since before the fall of the Berlin Wall. And if Ohio State loses, it’s, ‘All that (NIL) money and you couldn’t win a natty.’ Honestly, it’s the best of both worlds.”

Advertisement

For some Michigan fans, their rooting interest on Monday could be affected by where they live or the fandom of their friends or family. Generally speaking, Notre Dame is considered “the lesser of two evils,” as one Michigan fan put it.

Michigan’s 13-10 win over Ohio State on Nov. 30, the Wolverines’ fourth straight win in the series, naturally looms large for Michigan fans.

One such fan was clever to reference certain t-shirts and posters and other commemorative items that will be produced for the national champion.

“I don’t like the possibility of an OSU win,” he wrote, “but the idea that they’ll print the season schedule that ends with a natty but has to still show that UGLY loss to Michigan makes me smile.”

  • BETTING: Check out our guide to the best Michigan sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Michigan

Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast: Recapping Spartans’ Win Over Penn State

Published

on

Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast: Recapping Spartans’ Win Over Penn State


EAST LANSING, Mich. — No. 12 Michigan State improved to 15-2 on the season with its home victory over Penn State on Wednesday, remaining undefeated at the Breslin Center and in Big Ten play.

Yet again, the Spartans were unable to put together a full 40 minutes, as they were outscored in the second half after leading by 10 at halftime.

Nonetheless, Michigan State came away as the victors and are now winners of 10 straight.

Our Aidan Champion recaps the victory on this postgame edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast. You can watch below:

Advertisement

Below is a transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s opening statement of his postgame press conference:

Izzo: “New shirt tomorrow: ‘be the same.’ That’s going to be tomorrow: be the same. Really disappointed in my maybe my defensive performance. And I’m telling you — I’m taking full responsibility for that because I knew we were — I thought after that game, we had given up 40 points in the last two games [in the second half], and we did not learn much from it. We talked about it, we talked about it as a staff, we talked about it with our players, we talked about talking to the officials, we talked about the way things are, and I didn’t get much carry-over tonight, so that means, I did not do a very good job of getting through to my guys. So, I can promise you tonight, I’m going to figure out a way to get through to them. On the positive side, 24 assists on 32 baskets is amazing. 20 out of 24 free throws. Got there a lot, made free throws. 10 turnovers was good, but we had three at halftime, and we had four or five in a row during that run when we were up 10. And that happened at Northwestern. So that means we cannot handle success right now. So quit saying where we are. Because we’re not anywhere yet. We’re a good basketball team that’s got a long, long, long, long ways to go to get better. OK? Period. That’s where we are. And Frankie Fidler had a hell of a game, but other than that, I thought we were very pedestrian-like. We took bad shots, the wrong guys were taking some shots — we got to get other guys some shots. And I’ll answer any questions you got, but not many times this year have I been disappointed in our defensive performance. Tonight, I’m very disappointed.”

Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending