EUGENE, OR — The Pacific Northwest feels like another world in many ways. And for Michigan State basketball, it brought out plenty of qualities Tom Izzo might have felt were as mythical as a Sasquatch.
Coen Carr hitting 3-pointers? Carson Cooper carrying the offense? Trey Fort delivering one big shot after another?
With Jeremy Fears Jr. and Jaxon Kohler struggling as much as they had all year?
Consider it a newfound discovery, down the Oregon Trail.
Cooper posted career highs of 19 points and four blocks with seven rebounds, Carr drained a career-best three 3-pointers among his 15 points (to go with eight boards), and Fort emerged from a long drought with nine critical points as the 10th-ranked Spartans shook off a sludgy start en route to a 68-52 win over Oregon on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at Matthew Knight Arena.
“Oh, finding multiple ways of winning is the best thing you could probably do as a team,” said Fort, a sixth-year senior who hit four of five shots after scoring nine combined points in his first seven Big Ten games as a Spartan entering Tuesday. “Just seeing that you can win in many different ways − tough wins, ugly wins, good wins, great wins − like, a win is a win, so we like to take it anyway way we can. But being able to adjust and do that, down the road, I feel like we’re gonna need that adjustment and keep it going for the long run.”
Fears finished with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting after an ugly start, and Kohler managed just two points on 1-for-3 shooting but grabbed five boards as the Spartans finished with a 31-25 rebounding edge. MSU outscored Oregon 33-14 over the final 13-plus minutes after the Ducks had their biggest lead of the game.
Izzo pointed to his frustration with the Spartans’ leadership and himself. Fears missed six of his first seven shots before hitting four of his last five, while Kohler never got going due to foul trouble and an inability to get him the ball in good scoring positions.
On a five-game win streak after sweeping the trip to Washington and Oregon, MSU (17-2, 7-1 Big Ten) is a victory away from equaling its 18-2 start of a year ago. A visit from Maryland is ahead Saturday (noon, CBS) before the Spartans return to the road on the other coast, at Rutgers on Jan. 27.
“Just coming out of here with two wins, it’s great,” said Carr, who hit 6 of 9 shots while adding three assists and two blocks. “Last year, we came out of (the West Coast trip to Los Angeles) with two losses. So just having those two wins, we’re looking to build off that. Our offense hasn’t been the greatest, but our defense has been good.”
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Takai Simpkins scored 15 points with seven rebounds for injury-depleted Oregon (8-11, 1-7), which entered without Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad and then lost big man Ege Demir to a shoulder injury in the second half. No other Duck scored in double figures, and MSU held Oregon to just 7-for-20 from 3-point range.
Offensively discombobulated
MSU opened with a strong surge, including an 11-0 run, and looked to be poised to take control as Fears got the transition game going on the back of strong defensive rebounding.
Cooper had a pair of baskets in the paint, where eight early points came for the Spartans. Carr drained a 3-pointer after missing a pair of free throws. When Cooper got hacked and hit two at the line, MSU led 13-4 just 5:19 into the game.
It changed quickly as Oregon packed the paint and started running double teams at MSU’s post players. That challenged the Spartans to shoot more from the outside. It didn’t faze Carr, who hit a second 3-pointer and a foul-line jumper and eight points at the break on 3-of-5 shooting. And Cooper continued to hit midpaint shots, finishing with nine points in the half and combining with Carr for 10 rebounds.
But Kohler played just 7 minutes after picking up two fouls. Fears was 1-for-6 and missed both his 3-point attempts, struggling to generate foul-worthy contact. And Oregon’s defense pestered the point guard and MSU’s offense into four shot-clock violations, including one as time expired at halftime. The Spartans clung to a 28-26 lead as the Ducks overcame early shooting woes to hit four 3-pointers and get 10 points from Simpkins at the half.
“Press a little, zone a little, man (defense),” Fears said of Oregon’s defense. “It was just junking it up, so obviously you don’t go against this every day. We try to simulate that in practice, but it’s a lot different playing it and seeing it. They came out with energy and played hard, made it tough.”
Fort, the sixth-year senior, buried a pair of midrange jumpers late in the first half to help MSU shake its offensive stagnancy, and Divine Ugochukwu hit a 3-pointer that gave the Spartans the slight cushion.
“I didn’t think we looked tired,” Izzo said. “I just think we looked out of sync and not knowing what we were doing offensively. And it carried over to the defense.”
Alternate Big 3
Oregon almost dared Carr to beat them with his shooting. The same with Fears. Fort? He seemed to be an afterthought on the Ducks’ scouting report.
Then as Oregon continued to mix in zone defenses to frustrate MSU on the perimeter early in the second half, forcing Carr and Fears to shoot from long range, Carr drained his career-best third 3-pointer early in the period. Cooper continued to assert himself in the paint with Kohler drawing attention. And then Fort continued to make the Ducks pay for neglecting him, hitting another free throw-line jumper and following it with a 3-pointer.
That 3 from Fort made it 42-38. Oregon pulled within a point from there, but Carr and Cooper helped the Spartans pull away with an 18-3 run that included two layups for Carr – one off the dribble – and a midrange baseline jumper from Cooper.
The Spartans’ defense forced the Ducks into seven turnovers in the second half, including three straight possessions with Oregon in the lead.
“We’re up three and we turn the ball three times in a row. We have an opportunity to stay right with them, and we miss four free throws out of five. Our two best free-throw shooters,” Ducks coach Dana Altman said. “Our margin for error is small, and we can’t make those mistakes. And we did. As soon as they got a lead, they freed up and started moving the ball and shot it much better.”
Fears finally caught fire, hitting a 3-pointer with 5:19 left to put MSU up 60-44 and had six more points after that. He scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting with four assists after halftime.
What’s next
After an overnight, cross-country return flight, the Spartans make a brief stopover at Breslin Center for a nationally televised Saturday noon matinee with Maryland. The Terrapins (8-10, 1-6) have a short turnaround after Wednesday night’s road game at No. 11 Illinois. First-year coach Buzz Williams snapped a four-game losing streak Sunday at home as Maryland defeated Penn State, 96-73, for its first Big Ten victory.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Carson Cooper, Coen Carr spark Michigan State basketball past Oregon
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
