Texas Tech’s Tariq Owens, left, guards Michigan’s Jordan Poole during their NCAA tournament Sweet 16 game on March 28. Owens is considered one of the top defensive players in the country and a crucial part of Red Raiders coach Chris Beard’s formula on the court.MINNEAPOLIS – Hunker down, hoops fans. This one might get ugly.
The second national semifinal at Saturday’s Final Four will feature Texas Tech, the team with the best defense in a generation of men’s college basketball, against Michigan State, the nose-in-the-dirt squad led by a coach who used to put helmets and shoulder pads on his players for practice.
It’s an unglamorous pairing pitting teams that thrive on the grind. Texas Tech (30-6), a No. 3 seed and the West Region champion, has allowed more than 70 points only five times this season and not at all in the NCAA tournament. Second-seeded Michigan State (32-6) boasts the ninth-best defense in the country and got to this point by shutting down top-seeded, star-studded Duke for a one-point victory in the East final.
The over/under on the game was 132.5 points as of Friday afternoon, meaning there’s a good chance the first team to 65 will win.
“We try to guard at a high level,” Red Raiders coach Chris Beard said. “It’s been the identity of our teams at all different levels and currently at Texas Tech. It’s something we try to recruit to. We certainly coach and emphasize it.”
His players are listening. Jarrett Culver is the team’s leading scorer (18.9 points a game) and main NBA prospect, but the defensive help comes from all places. Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens were named to the All-Big 12 defensive team, with Owens also a semifinalist for the Naismith defensive player of the year. His swoop-in rejection of Rui Hachimura sealed last weekend’s Elite Eight victory over top-seeded Gonzaga.
Texas Tech’s defense has the best points allowed-per-100 possessions ratio (84) since stat guru Ken Pomeroy started tracking the figure in 2002. The Red Raiders have held teams to 36.9 percent shooting this year, second-lowest in the country.
“The defense, you don’t know until you go out there,” Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston said. “You’ve got to feel it out, but it doesn’t take that long to figure out what you can and can’t do at this point.”
Michigan State’s defense isn’t bad, either. It’s built around the hard-nosed lessons coach Tom Izzo has been teaching for years. Back when Izzo was making his first of eight appearances in the Final Four, he would suit his players up in helmets and shoulder pads for rebounding drills.
Yes, the Spartans can be physical.
“This team isn’t as physically tough, but they might be as mentally tough as any team I’ve ever had,” Izzo said. “So the word ‘toughness’ is still there.”
Guard Matt McQuaid is considered the team’s best defender. In its media guide, Michigan State unfurls a long list of top players – including Purdue’s big-scoring Carsen Edwards and pretty much all of the Big Ten – he has held to less than their season average. The Spartans were fourth in the nation in blocked shots (203) this season.
“This team is very connected,” Izzo said. “It’s like, when they move, they all move together, and that’s why we’ve been pretty good defensively ourselves.”
Will it be enough? For all his trips to the Final Four, Izzo has only won it once. He says he does not take much solace in getting close a bunch of times.
“I talk to them all the time, and part of it’s my fault because I say, ‘You know, I’ve been there, and nobody can take that away from me, but my dream is for you guys to get there,'” Izzo said. “So if they get there, they’re taking me along for the ride. So, that’s why I still have bigger fish to fry and bigger things to go after.”