Tar Heels Offer Scouting Report Of Michigan State
CHARLOTTE - With the Big Ten/ACC Challenge coming to an end last season, North Carolina will get its first taste of a Big Ten opponent Saturday, as it squares off against 9-seed Michigan State at 5:30pm in the NCAA Tournament second round at Spectrum Center.
The top-seed Tar Heels punched their ticket with a resounding 90-62 win over No. 16 seed Wagner, while the Spartans used their three-point attack to defeat No. 8 Mississippi State 69-51.
This is the first meeting between the two programs in the NCAA Tournament since North Carolina’s 89-72 win in the 2009 National Championship Game.
Their last regular season matchup took place on Nov. 26, 2017 in the PK80 Tournament in Portland, OR, where the Spartans secured a 63-45 win.
As the two schools go head-to-head for the 17th time, the Tar Heels will look to improve to 23-1 in their last 24 games against NCAA Tournament opponents seeded nine or lower.
With a dynamic backcourt in Tyson Walker, A.J. Hoggard, and Jaden Akins, three of Michigan State’s top four scorers, the North Carolina defense will have its hands full.
The trio averages a combined 39.5 points per game, while committing just 4.2 turnovers per contest.
Ahead of the Saturday matinee, Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels spoke to the media, providing thoughts on their second round opponent.
Q. Hubert, with the retirements of a bunch of legendary college basketball coaches in the last few years Coach Izzo is the elder statesman of college basketball, or one of them. How cool is it for you to go up against someone like that for the first time?
HUBERT DAVIS: It's just really cool to be a part of college basketball and specifically be a coach alongside Coach Izzo. I, for the longest of times, have been one of his biggest fans. As a player, I would have loved to play for him because it's not only his commitment to his players on the court but his commitment to his players off the court to the university and the community. I think he teaches life through basketball, and that's something that I experienced at Carolina through Coach Smith. When I see Coach Izzo, it reminds me a lot of Coach Smith. So it really is -- I say this a lot, but it is. It's an honor and a privilege to be on the sideline alongside with him, and for both of our teams to have an opportunity and a chance to compete tomorrow is a really big deal.
Q. When you watch Michigan State on film, what stands out?
CORMAC RYAN: They're a physical team. They're good defensively. They've got a really good half-court defense. They like to push the pace in transition. We did some scouting personnel obviously last night. So we're ready to go out and compete and play against a good team on Saturday.”
HARRISON INGRAM: “To add on to what he said, they're a physical team. They've got a pretty good guard in Walker, who's been averaging 20 points a game. He's tough, makes shots off the dribble, makes three-point shots. Four big men they rotate through, so they have a lot of depth and a lot of strength. They play Big Ten basketball, which is more physical.
Q. North Carolina has been an elite program forever. Michigan State more so in the last 25 years or so with Coach Izzo. I wonder how you guys think when you hear Michigan State.
HARRISON INGRAM: It's kind of a surreal moment to think about for the right to go to [the] Sweet 16 you've got to face Tom Izzo and Michigan State. They're a great team. They've had an up-and-down year. But they're a preseason top five, and they earned their right to play in the tournament. They're a really good team, and we're ready to go.
CORMAC RYAN: Two, like you said, really historic programs. Obviously really well-known in college basketball, especially over the last 25 years. So you can't ask for anything better in March Madness to go up against great teams, great programs, and come away with a great win.”
Q: What do you think of when you think of Tom Izzo basketball?
INGRAM: “I think of rugged. I think of football type of style. Big bigs, offensive rebounding, and (getting out in) transition. He’s one of the great coaches. He can coach a different style and adjust to his players and not a system. He’s a great coach.”
Q. I'd like both players to address this. How much is toughness going to play into tomorrow's game, and how much do you two factor into that?
CORMAC RYAN: I think it starts and ends with toughness for us. That's something we've prided ourself on all year is living in the trenches, being tough, playing gritty, doing the dirty work, doing the little things. That's when we're at our best, and that's what fuels us. So tomorrow's no different. We've got to bring the toughness. We've got to bring the edge, bring the fight. Michigan State's a tough team and the Big Ten's a tough conference. But we're a tough team. We've shown that all year, and that's really what gets us going.”
HARRISON INGRAM: 100 percent to add on to what he said. A lot of small lineups, people playing down in their position. A lot of teams come in with the intent to try to bully us. They've done that throughout the year, they felt that was the scouting report or whatever. I feel like we've always stepped up to the challenge, and I feel like we're ready to go for tomorrow too.”
Part of stepping up to that challenge is that toughness and physicality, something that Jae’Lyn Withers believes the Tar Heels are prepared for.
WITHERS: “At the end of the day, (physicality) is something that the ACC has been instilling and enforcing into our style of play, living in the trenches and doing the dirty work. 50/50 balls, we have to be the first ones to get to them.”
For North Carolina, an emphasis of their gameplan will be to stop Tyson Walker, who leads Michigan State in scoring at 18.2 points per game.
Elliot Cadeau on Tyson Walker:
“He looks like he’s really talented. [He’s] probably one of the best guards we’ve played so far and I learned just through film that he’s really talented. We gotta play really hard to stop him. We can’t let him get hot. We feel like he’s probably the engine of the team and they go as far as he goes. We gotta do our best defensively from tipoff.”
RJ Davis on how to stop Walker:
“I would probably say as a team just make it tough for him to catch [the ball] and kind of just corral him on pick-and-rolls. If he gets a little bit of separation, he’s able to knock it down, either from the midrange or from three. [We can] pressure him a little bit, whether that’s double-teaming or off the staggers.”
“We’re gonna need a lot of toughness throughout everyone, from the starting five all the way to the bench. We’re gonna have to bring it. It’s the second round of March Madness. It’s a win or go home opportunity. We gotta be ready to play our brand of basketball.”
For RJ Davis and Armando Bacot, this isn’t their first time facing off against the All-Conference guard, as Walker scored a game-high 27 points against the Tar Heels in an 82-62 loss at the Smith Center in 2021 as a member of the Northeastern program.
“It gives me and RJ some perspective because we know how much he killed us when we played him (at Northeastern),” said Bacot. “We know it’s going to take a lot to stop him. That’s going to be a great matchup with him and RJ. That’s box office right there.”