Adam Ruff

Here’s every frame I captured of @Kenneth_Walker9’s incredible touchdown run on Saturday night.

A bunch of duds to close out the day.

Are all the 16-seeds going to be this pesky this March?

@DPG124 @Slicknickshady I think you’re right. Was that with a Neitzel and Maurice Joseph starting backcourt?

@AdamRuffPhoto @Slicknickshady I remember Marquette under tom crean not scoring for about ten minutes in the first half. But that was only 30-18 at half

Michigan State’s 20 point lead at the half is the LARGEST halftime lead in the NCAA tournament during the Tom Izzo era. MSU’s previous best was 17 points - a 35-18 halftime lead against Valpo in 2013. The Spartans were also a three-seed that year.

1-for-1 for the Cooper and Kohler senior duo. Nearly a pair of double-doubles to kick things off. 20 & 10 for Carson Cooper. 12 & 9 for Jaxon Kohler.

Pretty dominant win for MSU. Love to see all the contributions they got today. 10 players scored and three players shot 75% or better on 6+ shot attempts. Incredibly efficient on offense. Great to see Cam Ward do Cam Ward things early in the game when the game was close.

Trey Fort may be getting some offensive confidence at just the right time. Two games in a row providing a spark.

@quietstorm322 For sure. That’s part of it, no doubt. The trend is concerning though. It’s usually the opposite at this time of the year for MSU though. Louisville is a high octane team, so they’ll have to flip the switch quickly.

@AdamRuffPhoto I think they kinda let down in the 2nd half cause of the big lead. Something you can get away with in November but can't mess around with in March.

Concerning, is opposing guards being able to get to the basket rather easily. It’s happened a lot recently.

I’m definitely not trying to downplay the big first round W against NDSU, just trying to keep perspective on what may need to change if they want to keep advancing. MSU’s calling card has always been defense and it simply hasn’t been nearly as good lately.

Opponents of Michigan State have scored 40+ points in 6 of the last 7 halves of basketball. MSU has to tighten up defensively if they want to keep advancing. This dates back to the second half of the Rutgers game when the Scarlet Knights scored 57 second half points.

@MikiPatterson Yeah, he looks nervous, unsurprisingly.

@AdamRuffPhoto Shooting but needs to play better D

Let’s see if MSU can have some focus and killer instinct and finish these guys quickly.

Previous to the Tom Izzo era, MSU’s largest halftime lead was 33 points, a 50-17 lead against Penn in the 1979 national semifinals.

@CountryMichSt Yep. Even as a 1-seed, their largest halftime lead was 14 points against a 16.

@AdamRuffPhoto That’s very surprising

I mean, can’t complain about that half of basketball. If I could be picky, it’d be nice to see Carr get back to putting the ball on the deck in the half court and getting to the rim. MSU will need that in the tourney, and he’s been struggling with that lately.

A picture perfect “YOU DON’T WORK HARD” performance from Cam Ward in the first half so far.

A combined 8 points for Fort and Wojcik in the first 10:30 of the game. Just as we all predicted.

16-2 run for MSU.