by BEARZ77 » February 16th, 2022, 9:02 am
Interesting game between Sycamore's and Bears last nite; MSU pulled away late for a 79-70 win, after Indiana St led large parts of the game. Turning point was Ford's reluctant but smart move to a zone second half, and decision to go inside relentlessly to Prim. Prim went for 32 pts and 11 rbs, drew 17 fouls and shot 21 foul shots. Not sure I've seen an opposing beat writer take to twitter to whine about the fouls the way Todd Golden did, but then I remembered he's a MU honk who was very critical of MSU when there was talk about our perhaps looking to want to move to FBS football. Makes sense , tough times for both MU and ISU sports, gotta cry some where. Not much professionalism there though.
I will say ISU caught Prim at a bad time; he's been on a tear; with teams rolling their defenses to try to limit Mosley, he's been increasingly utilized by the Bears to counter. And Bear fans have been on Ford to get more vocal about the nightly pounding he takes as a result, and Ford took a first half technical last night towards that end. It's a tough call for opposing coaches , as Prim is strong, skilled, and relentless about establishing his position down low . I sit just a couple rows off the court and on the end where MSU starts their offense in the first half of games, and the battle starts from the very first possession nightly. They could call something every possession, but of course don't, and for the most part let it play out most nights, but ISU's post 3 some they ran at Prim , were particularly inept. But while Prim shot 21 foul shots, the Bears only shot 22 total, and the Sycs shot 21 despite chucking up 29 treys, so hardly a disparity. The Sycs just didn't have anybody that could defend inside, and Ford smartly went to it every possession possible in the second half, and when we did kick it out, Minnet went 6/10 from the trey line[ he's hit 11 in his last 2 games]. I actually thought it was a smart approach by the Sycs; they couldn't guard him, so be as physical as possible and get 2-3 guys dropping and hacking , and make the officials call it, which many nights they don't consistently. Helps when your big can make 18 of 21 fts though.
Bear's can be so inconsistent, but when playing well, I think they and UNI are the toughest to defend in the league because of the number of shooters to complement elite scorers on both teams. You gotta pick your poison on both Mosley and Prim, but then if Minnett, Black, Haney are hitting treys , what do you do.
Anyway, that time of year, just win baby.
The Bear is the largest carnivore on the North American continent; beware the Bear!