A.J. Hoggard, Joey Hauser break down Michigan State's defensive effort vs. Marquette
Yet again Michigan State has reached the Sweet Sixteen under head coach Tom Izzo, defeating Marquette on Sunday 69-60. It was a signature game for the Spartans highlighted by lockdown defense, which AJ Hoggard and Joey Hauser broke down following their big win, starting with Hoggard.
“We were just trying to play our game, play aggressive, make officials make decisions when we’re at the rim. Just play our game,” Hoggard said. “Coach told us to be aggressive, put pressure on those guys to make it harder for them when they get on offense, make them have to guard as well. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
Marquette was impressive from three-point range, making 40.7% of their long balls. Michigan State on the other hand was atrocious, making just two three-pointers compared to Marquette’s 11. But inside of the arc they dominated, holding the Golden Eagles to their second-lowest scoring output of the season and outscoring them 32-16 in the paint.
“Yeah, I mean, we worked on it for 48 hours,” Hauser said. “We scouted them hard. It helps when we have Mady Sissoko down there, shot-blocker presence. We just did our job. We knew our matchups. We knew personnel. We knew what they were running. We weren’t surprised by much. And credit goes to our coaches on that one.”
The Spartans scouting and toughness paid off for them on Sunday night, and hopefully it does on Thursday as well, as they take on Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. ET in a Sweet Sixteen matchup airing on TBS.
WATCH: Tom Izzo, Michigan State go crazy in locker room following Sweet Sixteen berth
A big win calls for a big celebration, and Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo understood the assignment on Sunday night. The Spartans knocked off Marquette in the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, defeating the No. 2 seeded Golden Eagles 69-60.
The win marks Izzo’s 15th appearance in the Sweet 16, as the Spartans will face Kansas State on Thursday for a chance to reach the Elite 8.
But before Izzo and the Spartans take on the Wildcats, they made sure to celebrate. Michigan State basketball’s Twitter account documented the moment when Izzo met his team in the locker room, as the team showered him cheers, and of course plenty of water.
Izzo let out a ‘yeah baby’ as he greeted his team and kicked off their epic locker room celebration. But before the celebration, Izzo was moved to tears in his post-game interview after the win. There’s no question that it’s been a long and emotional year for the Spartans following the tragedy that occurred on campus in February. But ever since then, the Spartans basketball team has served as an area of positivity for the East Lansing community.
Sunday’s game was a dogfight where the Spartans had to earn every basket. There were 10 lead changes and Michigan State shot an egregious 12.5% from three-point range, but still managed to pull out the win. The Spartans were up by one point with 3:36 left remaining in the game, then proceeded to go on a 10-0 run that would propel them to their big victory.