EAST LANSING — “Casual” is not a term Tom Izzo throws around lightly. It generally means he wants sharper focus and intensity in some facet from his Michigan State basketball players.
A new year brought the return of the dreaded word. And Izzo’s biggest demand with Big Ten play the rest of the way is for the Spartans to cut down on their turnovers again.
It was an area the 30th-year head coach brought up both going into and coming out of Monday’s 80-62 victory over Western Michigan to close out nonconference play with six straight wins. And his drumbeat continued Wednesday after practice as No. 15 MSU prepares to hit the road for Ohio State on Friday (8 p.m., Fox).
The Spartans (11-2, 2-0 Big Ten) committed 11 of their 17 turnovers against the Broncos in the first half, and they are turning the ball over 12.2 times a game to rank 191st nationally and 16th out of 18 Big Ten teams.
“The truth of it is, it wasn’t that I wasn’t happy with the effort,” Izzo reflected Wednesday about the WMU win. “I felt like we got casual with our passing, the turnovers. If you look at what we did defensively and you take away like five turnovers for touchdowns, we probably did as good a job as we needed to do defensively.”
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A year ago, the Spartans committed the fewest turnovers per game (10) of Izzo’s career, 35th-best nationally and fourth in the conference. That came after the previous Izzo-low of 10.9 per game in the 2022-23 season.
Prior to the past two years, Izzo’s previous teams turned the ball over 13.7 times a game in his first 27 seasons.
“I think that focus needs to be handled,” Izzo said. “And if you look at the (WMU) game, I think we had seven guys with two turnovers. It wasn’t like one guy had four, everybody had a couple. So that’s where I thought we were a little casual. …
“I don’t think it’s that they don’t care. Sometimes I think we’re going a little too fast.”
There is truth in that, as well as some benefits despite the uptick in giveaways.
MSU is showing a renewed ability to run in transition with point guards Jeremy Fears Jr., Tre Holloman and Jase Richardson. Last season with guards A.J. Hoggard and Tyson Walker, the Spartans had one of the nation’s worst adjusted tempo rankings according to KenPom.com, finishing 309th out of 362 Division I teams overall with the 210th-best average possession length on offense (17.8 seconds) that was 0.3 slower than the D-I average.
Through 13 games MSU has accelerated its pace and ranks 92nd at 16.6 seconds, 0.8 faster than the D-I average. MSU enters the new year leading the country in fastbreak points (20.2 per game) after finishing last season 22nd nationally (14.1).
The Buckeyes (9-4, 1-1) are forcing just 12 turnovers per game but are surging with three straight wins, including an 85-65 win over No. 11 Kentucky.
“These few games in Big Ten play matter, especially an away game,” Holloman said Wednesday. “We need this game. And this is gonna tell us where our team is.”
On Jan. 1 a year ago, the Spartans were scoring 16.2 points on the break and averaging 77.2 a game. They ended nonconference play Monday averaging 82 points, a nearly five-point bump from this time a year ago.
But Izzo wants to ensure his players are comfortable knowing a quicker pace doesn’t mean they can afford to get sloppy.
“I just don’t want to use that as an excuse, only because that’s the way we play,” he said. “And we’re playing that way all the time, so guys should get used to it.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Buckeyes
Matchup: No. 15 Michigan State (11-2, 2-0 Big Ten) at Ohio State (9-4, 1-1).
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday; Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio.
TV/radio: Fox; WJR-AM (760).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball focused on critical stat vs Ohio State
