Locked On Spartans - Daily Podcast On Michigan State Spartans Football & Basketball · Locked On Podcast Network, Matt Sheehan

MSU basketball will be in GREAT SHAPE if they continue THESE trends; MSU hockey ready for run?

·26 min·1 clip

Bench scoring, foul usage, and Terrace Reed's free throws could decide Michigan State-UConn.

1. Locked On Spartans frames Michigan State basketball's Sweet 16 matchup with UConn around rebounding, three-point shooting, and bench production. 2. Matt Sheehan hosts the show, and Jeremy Dewar of Spartans Illustrated joins for the Michigan State hockey segment because he covers Spartan hockey closely. 3. The basketball segment asks whether Michigan State can continue three season-long trends against UConn and reach another Elite Eight. 4. Sheehan says Michigan State's rebounding is an elite strength and points to the team's top-10 offensive and defensive rebounding numbers. 5. He notes that UConn has been over 40% in offensive rebounding in its last six games, but Michigan State has not allowed an opponent above 30% offensive rebounding in its last 10 games. 6. Sheehan also says Michigan State's top-50 rebounding numbers stay inside the top 20, while UConn's numbers fall outside the top 100 against top-50 competition. 7. The second basketball trend is three-point shooting, where Michigan State is hitting 36.5% on the season. 8. He adds that Michigan State shoots 40.3% from three on neutral courts and road games, which he uses to challenge the idea that the team cannot shoot. 9. UConn's three-point defense is top 30 nationally, so Sheehan says Michigan State needs to stay close to its season average rather than repeat a 25% outing. 10. The third basketball trend is bench production, with the Spartans getting 30 bench points against North Dakota State and 21 against Louisville. 11. Sheehan specifically asks for combined production from Kurtang and Trafort and says Denim Wojcik's injured shoulder has to hold up. 12. He also wants Cam Ward to soak up fouls against Terrace Reed, who is a 58% free-throw shooter, and Eric Reeb, who is a 54% free-throw shooter. 13. The episode then turns to CBS Sports columnist Avery Johnson, whose Sweet 16 re-ranking placed Michigan State 16th out of 16 teams. 14. Sheehan reads Johnson's quote that there is really no last place, then uses the ranking as bulletin-board material for Michigan State. 15. He contrasts Johnson's placement of Michigan State with his rankings of Purdue, Iowa, Michigan, Iowa State, Arizona, Duke, and Houston. 16. On the hockey side, Dewar says Michigan State drew UConn, Dartmouth, and Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament and calls the regional favorable. 17. Dewar says UConn has a top-10 save percentage goalie in Tyler Muzalik and a system that allows 11th-fewest goals in the country. 18. He says Michigan State's biggest concern is faceoffs, because the team won only 51% on the season and needs better work from the second and third lines. 19. The conversation sounds like a tactical preview with a loose, conversational back-and-forth between Sheehan and Dewar. 20. Fans of Michigan State basketball and hockey will get the most from this episode, while listeners wanting general college sports chatter may skip it.

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