GREEN & WHITE BASKETBALL

Michigan State basketball's 'self-inflicted' turnovers bother Tom Izzo

Chris Solari
Lansing State Journal
North Carolina's Andrew Platek and Michigan State's Cassius Winston go after a loose ball in the second half of MSU's 63-45 win over North Carolina in the Phil Knight Invitational tournament in Portland, Ore., Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017.

EAST LANSING – Defense and rebounding aren’t what worries Tom Izzo for once. What does worry him is Michigan State’s problems on offense – specifically its turnover troubles.

The third-ranked Spartans committed a season-high 24 of them in Sunday’s 63-45 win over No. 11 North Carolina in the PK80 Victory Bracket championship win. The issue isn’t even turning the ball over so much as it is giving it away in “bizarre” ways such as offensive fouls.

“You think of most turnovers as sloppy passes. There weren’t as many of those as there were bizarre turnovers,” Izzo said Tuesday. “But it doesn’t matter either way. You don’t get a chance to make a basket, and that’s kind of what a turnover is – it depletes you the opportunity to score a basket.”

With No. 5 Notre Dame coming to Breslin Center on Thursday (7 p.m./ESPN), there is an emphasis on correcting the mistakes before the Spartans’ highest-ranked matchup since the Big Ten/ACC Challenge began in 1999.

“That’s the biggest thing, I think, the turnovers,” senior captain Tum Tum Nairn said after practice Tuesday. “Also moving the ball more offensively and continuing to get better rebounding. I think if we can clean up the turnovers, that gives us (a chance) to give our shooters more shots … and give us a better chance to win more games if we can bring those turnovers down.”

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On the season, MSU (5-1) has committed 99 turnovers, 16.5 per game. That included 17 in a loss to No. 1 Duke, 21 in the opener against North Florida and a season-low eight against Connecticut. In the UNC win, there also were a number of times when the Spartans either dribbled the ball off their feet or threw errant passes without much pressure.

“I don’t take anything away from the teams we’ve played defensively, but maybe the best defensive team we played was UConn as far as getting after you, and we had eight turnovers, the fewest of the year,” Izzo said. “So it’s more self-inflicted, and that part is concerning, disappointing to me and I’ve got to do a better job in practice and will.”

MSU’s starters have committed 70 of those turnovers, including 17 for forwarding Jaren Jackson Jr., 16 for point guard Cassius Winston and 14 for Nick Ward. Miles Bridges has 11 and sat out a game.

“I feel like it’s unforced turnovers. We’re being careless with the ball, being casual with the ball,” Bridges said. “We need to make aggressive passes and just make aggressive plays every time. … It’s effort-related mistakes, and we can fix those.”

INJURY UPDATES

Izzo said Kenny Goins might be ready to play against Notre Dame. The junior forward has missed the past four games with a sprained knee he suffered against Duke on Nov. 14.

“He seems to be doing real well with it. There’s no real damage, it’s just cleaning it up a little bit,” Izzo said. “So there is a chance in that. That would help us, especially on the perimeter, and it gives us some options with moving Miles around a little bit which would help.”

Matt McQuaid, however, continues to battle a foot injury he suffered during the Connecticut win at the PK80. Izzo said the junior shooting guard “flat-out sucked it up” and played through a swollen arch during Sunday’s win over North Carolina.

“We might hold him out a little bit,” Izzo said, “but I think he’ll get back to normal pretty quick.”

WILD BILL

Portland left a strong impression on Jackson, who sampled the food trucks and Voodoo Doughnut before he left.

He also got a chance to talk to Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton, who announced the Spartans’ game against UNC on ESPN. Jackson started giggling when he thought back to their meeting at MSU’s practice.

“He’s a funny dude. He’s a great guy,” Jackson said. “He got a chance to watch us practice. And he’s really tall, which makes him even funnier. When you’re larger, everything you do is funny. So probably things I do are more funny just because I’m lanky and tall. But things he does are absolutely hilarious.”

Walton talked on the broadcast a lot about bridges – both Miles and the roadways.

“I love bridges,” Walton said. “It really is the ultimate tool because it allows you to get someplace you can't get on your own.”

Asked after practice Tuesday what his favorite bridge is, Bridges got a big grin and laughed: “The Mackinac Bridge.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.