Spartans Powered by Jase & Defense, Rides 2nd Half Comeback to Elite 8 Trip

**All State Arena-Atlanta, GA**

Start slow, down a moderate amount, regroup, cut the deficit by halftime, make halftime adjustments, claw back over 10 minutes of see-saw action, gain a two-possession lead, make free throws and shots down the stretch while tightening up the defense. Sound familiar? That’s been the copy-paste script for Michigan State for essentially the month of March. Enter into the chat; Sweet 16 matchup vs Ole Miss. What. A. Thriller.

Jase Richardson was a PROBLEM in his first Sweet 16 😤

🔥 20 PTS | 4 3PT | 6 REB@MSU_Basketball gets the W to advance to the Elite 8📈 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/Hsr6XlPtw6

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 29, 2025

Ole Miss grabbed the lead early and guard Sean Pedulla was the hottest hand on the court, leading the Rebels with 24 points (9-17 FG, 3-8 3-pt) and 4 assists, and paced the offense to a 10-point (29-19) margin. Michigan State would cut the lead down to 2 by half, who was led by freshman phenom Jase Richardson who tallied 20 points (6-8 FG, 4-6 3-pt, 4-6 FTs) and corralling 6 rebounds, and joined in the double digit club with Coen Carr (15 points, 6-10 FG, 2-2 FTs), Jaden Akins (13 points, 5-10 FG, 1-5 3-pt) and Tre Holloman (10 points, 2-7 FG, 6-6 FTs). Jaxon Kohler was stymied earlier and did not see the floor for a bit into the second half as the Ole Miss defensive approach was a carbon copy of Coach Chris Beard’s style when he downed MSU in 2019 with Texas Tech.

In the second half, Frankie Fidler played more minutes, Akins started to make some aggressive drives and finishes while Jase and Carr rose up in big spots and it wouldn’t be an ugly win without some redemption from Jeremy Fears. Fears struggled for most of the game, pushed into unsolicited turnovers, perhaps playing too many mind games on defense attempting to earn multiple charges and putting his teammates at risk as well as his availability as Tre was struggling to guard Pedulla the final several minutes. Spartans needed someone to step up and amongst the free throws, Fears turned it on the final 5 minutes garnering some assists (finished with 6), a steal/tip to Carr on a hustle play and a pair of free throws to top it off. Similar to how Jase ended their second-round game after yielding a brutal shooting night, Fears came up when his team needed the edge to secure AND hold, the lead.

In a fairly unusual move amongst most coaches, Tom Izzo made a lineup change inserting Coen Carr into the starting 5 and removing forward Syzmon Zapala. Then again, Coach Izzo is not the average coach and has gone with his gut all year rotating guys in-and-out handling his players like a maestro between permitting Frankie Fidler’s request to be removed from the starting five as he admitted to struggling to find his role and didn’t want to hinderance the team to reducing and then benching Xavier Booker (which I know pains both of them to a great deal) and adjusting his guards with Tre Holloman and Jase Richardson on matchup and who is hot. Zapala wasn’t only pulled, he was effectively benched. We’ve covered his struggles and during this time, it’s the guys who don’t leave you vulnerable on both ends that need to be playing and Izzo made the adjustment to shorten the rotation.

The move put a lot on Kohler, Carson Cooper and Coen Carr but these guys have long since bought into the team identity and relying on each-other to play effectively together. Their collective ability just works with Coach Izzo and his staff’s systems and perhaps the biggest part, they believe in the greater goal and don’t care who steps up as they’re all expected to pitch in and hold one another accountable. At some point, they will need something from Zapala so I do not expect him to be permanently benched outside of foul issues or injury. He still brings some rebounding ability and is a good distributor of the ball on offense but that’s about the extent of what he’s shown as he lacks post scoring ability, a little slow of defense with his feet and struggles to consistently box out, causing some holes on the defensive end which you cannot leave exposed for long stretches, especially with forwards. In short, if you can’t score, below average defender and are turnover prone when trying to dribble, you aren’t really an asset when on the floor.

“I love these guys” 🥹

Tom Izzo gets emotional showing love to his squad after a big comeback win in the Sweet 16 👏 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/BABwujnfEb

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 29, 2025

MSU will be all hands-on deck as they will face off against Bruce Pearl, player of the year candidate Johni Broome and the Auburn Tigers, the #1 overall seed Sunday. Tom Izzo is undefeated against the SEC in his entire NCAA Tournament as he moves to 10-0. The last time MSU faced a POY team and 1 seed in their region was against Duke and freshman star Zion Williamson in 2019. Are there too many similarities to the 2000 team and their tournament events that unfolded? Stay tuned, matchup breakdown is coming next!

ELITE 8: 

Sunday, 3/30 at 5:05pm EST on CBS.

Sweet 16 vs Ole Miss Stats:

Spartans: 24-48 FG (50.0%), 6-17, 3-PT (35.3%), 19-22 FT (86.4%)

Rebels: 26-64 FG (40.6%), 9-27 3-PT (33.3%), 9-10 FT (90.0%)

Rebounds: Ole Miss 33-29 (12-5 offensive); Assists: MSU 15-13; Turnovers: Ole Miss 8-10 (Points- Ole Miss 13-10); Fast Break Points: Ole Miss 11-3; Points-In-Paint: MSU 36-30, Steals: Ole Miss 8-1, Foul Count; MSU 12-20, Blocks: MSU 5-3.