Izzo's staff worked diligently to alter plan vs. UVA

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Preparing on a short turnaround has been a hallmark of Tom Izzo's NCAA tournament success.

But even he had to applaud Michigan State's coaching staff's ability to alter its defensive concepts and his players' ability to execute them Sunday against Virginia.

"They literally taught us a totally different game plan from some of the things we've been taught for four years, honestly," senior Travis Trice said of Izzo and his assistants. "And for them to be able to display that to us and for us to pick it up, I just think it shows how great of coaches they are."

The end results: The Spartans held the Cavaliers to a season-low 29.8% shooting from the field, including a frigid 2-for-17 from three-point range that only was bolstered by a Malcom Brogdon make with 27 seconds left and MSU's 60-54 victory all but clinched.

"Coach talked about that before the game: 'No matter what happens offensively, know who we are,' " assistant coach Dane Fife said. "We believe we can guard virtually anybody."

The process to get those results? Intricate. Intense. Immediate.

It started behind the scenes Tuesday, with Izzo gathering his coaches to discuss what had to be done. Things that Izzo has preached for years were about to be thrown onto the scrap heap. Video clips were culled, readying in advance in case the Spartans and Cavaliers would duplicate their Sweet 16 matchup from a year ago.

As soon as MSU defeated Georgia on Friday, Izzo gave his players a half-hour break after returning to the team hotel before they reconvened to start working on Virginia.

"Give my staff a lot of credit — they sat down and did it," Izzo said. "But to have a team do that in one night … at this time of year, your focus has to be incredible. And that was incredible focus if you ask me."

Virginia runs a "Mover-Blocker" offensive, which MSU players described as "circles" because of the motion concepts coach Tony Bennett employs.

The Cavaliers' guards run off screens from their big men along the baseline or up the free-throw lane, then flare out for a jump shot or drive to the basket. Once the ball is delivered, the passing guard then becomes a "mover" and then looks for a screen himself. The "blockers" also can become secondary cutters to the basket once they have set the pick, then reset to their original mission to set screens to free up the next guard to make a cut.

MSU's biggest breaks from tendency and teachings came in two parts. First, its guards were sagging off the Virginia "movers" to trail their flares off screens. Second, the Spartans' big men were stepping up to help while not straying too far from who they were guarding to be able to recover.

"We never play defense quite that way," junior Bryn Forbes said. "Usually, we jump to the ball and stay in the gaps. As guards, we weren't doing that. We were having our bigs being the nail (help) man in the middle. So when their guards would drive, (MSU's post players) would step up. We changed a lot, and it worked."

Virginia's leading scorer Brogdon went just 3 of 12 for nine points, five under his average. Justin Anderson, who averaged 12.4 entering the game, scored just eight on 2 of 7 shooting. London Perrantes made just 2 of 10 shots for five points.

"We had to take away some nuances. Each player was different," Fife said. "Anderson is probably their best shooter, Brogdon their best driver and Perrantes can really get off the ball screens. So we wanted to make sure we guarded their specialties. … We run a version of the pack defense, just like Virginia. We wanted to keep that lane stuffed with bodies. We wanted our bigs sitting in there, down and active.

"Again, you can't give the bigs credit without giving the guards credit. It was just a really good team effort."

The Cavaliers entered the game ranked No. 1 at 51.2 points allowed per game and held MSU nearly 12 points below its 71.8 a contest. The Spartans' defense, however, also held Virginia's offense 11 points below its 65.8 points per game scoring average.

MSU forward Marvin Clark Jr. said the Spartans took it as a challenge to play strong defensively, knowing the praise Virginia has received all season.

"First and foremost, respect to (the Cavaliers)," Clark said. "But this is what Michigan State is built on – defense and rebounding."

Chris Solari writes for the Lansing State Journal.