Originally Posted by
DavidBenAkiva
While I expect to see Tre Jones on Cassius Winston a lot, I really doubt that it will be a one-on-one matchup for the majority of the game. In the game against Kentucky, Calipari threw Ashton Hagans, considered an elite defender, and either Immanuel Quickley or Tyrese Maxey at Winston, forcing the MSU PG to give up the ball to his teammates. That resulted in just 12 FG attempts for Winston to go along with 4 assists and 3 turnovers. In the second half of against Seton Hall, it was the same thing. Winston took a good number of shots, mostly in the 1st half, but finished with just 4 assists and 4 turnovers. In that game, Malik Hall was the savior, taking and making a number of open jumpers to keep MSU in the lead. Against Virginia Tech, Winston shot a season-low 8 field goal attempts and had just 2 assists and 3 turnovers. VA Tech elected to double Winston throughout and it totally disrupted the MSU offense. In all 3 of those games, Winston got into foul trouble.
Against Duke, I think a lineup of Tre Jones and Jordan Goldwire will be used to double Winston off the screen. This is what Kentucky and VA Tech did to great effect. MSU screens with their bigs a lot, including Thomas Kithier, Xavier Tillman, and either Malik Hall or Marcus Bingham. None of those guys are threats to score from the perimeter. You can leave the screener for a few moments to double Winston, forcing him to pass the ball to the open screener. They like to keep the wings and their guards along the baseline, which is where I hope we'll see Wendell Moore, Joey Baker, and Alex O'Connell. They can use their height and length to run the MSU wings off the line or prevent swing passes from Winston.
One of the big keys for the game will be seeing if Matthew Hurt and Jack White can help off the screen. If they do that, while not allowing an open lane to the rim, I think Duke can seriously stifle MSU's elite offense. Lesser coaches have already had success slowing down the Spartans. The blueprint is out.