Perimeter shooting has never been more utized or valuable than it is in the sport of basketball right now with good teams like Duke, Alabama and Marquette — not to mention the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics — taking roughly half of their field goal attempts from 3-point range.
Don’t tell that to Tom Izzo, though.
At Michigan State, the Spartans are barely taking a 3-pointer every third possession, making them at an even lower rate, and this should be a real problem — but it’s not. Izzo’s team won again Friday night, 69-62 at Ohio State, while taking only 18 3-pointers and making just three of them. The Quadrant 1 victory over an Ohio State team that’s 27th in the NET pushed Michigan State’s record to 12-2 overall, and 3-0 in the Big Ten, despite the Spartans shooting just 28% from 3-point range on the season.
That number ranks 342nd nationally.
“An ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” Izzo said following Friday’s victory.
Who could argue with that?
Michigan State is No. 9 in Saturday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Tennessee remains No. 1 for the 31st consecutive day. The Spartans are one of three teams still perfect in Big Ten play with the others being UCLA and Michigan. Given that three of Michigan State’s next four games are at home, and that the Spartans aren’t currently projected as underdogs again until their Feb. 4 game at UCLA, this seven-game winning streak could reasonably reach double-figures regardless of whether the shooting improves, as long as Michigan State continues to guard at an elite level.
Is it the prettiest, most modern style of basketball?
Nope.
But, like Izzo said, ugly wins are better than pretty losses. And, either way, “ugly” and “pretty” aren’t terms the selection committee concerns itself with, point being that winning will ultimately be the only thing that matters. And if the Spartans keep doing it at this rate, the seed they’ll get on Selection Sunday, after possibly winning a Big Ten title, will have them set up to take a shot at what would be Izzo’s ninth trip to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.
