Spartans get season started on a goodish note
What up, Spartan Nation! Basketball is back!
And for those of you who subscribe to BTN+, you got to enjoy the season opener. For me, let’s just say I was having technical difficulties streaming the game. So this inauguaral “3 Likes & 3 Dislikes” of 2024-25 is going to be based on the parts of the game I saw and on the holes I filled in from the box score. The good news is this was the only game scheduled to be broadcast on The Plus, barring any changes.
Michigan State got their season underway by hosting the Monmouth Hawks at the Breslin Center on Monday night. There are definitely some kinks for Tom Izzo to work on, but there were also plenty of positives. The game ended with MSU prevailing, 81-57. At times, MSU looked like they were going to win by a much larger margin. While at other times, there were worries about last year’s opener repeating itself. I know this was the first game and it was against a mid-major. But I got to get this article out so we can get ice cream. So let’s look at a few highlights and lowlights.
3 Things I Liked:
1. Minutes Distribution. I will choose to interpret this as Izzo having confidence in several players in similar amounts, though it could easily be seen as Coach looking for a lineup that works. The Spartans had 8 players who were on the court for at least 18 minutes, but none more than 27. In order, it went Akins (27), Carr (23), Fears (22), Richardson (22), Fidler (21), Zapala (19), Booker (19), and Kohler (18). Tre Holloman and Carson Cooper each played 11 minutes. This is a marked difference from last year where Carr and Booker, both freshmen last year, did not have the trust of Izzo to play big minutes. So seeing Jase Richardson going over 20 minutes in his first game is a good sign that he is ready to play in Izzo’s system. If this game is a true indicator and we have ten guys who can play 10+ minutes, then we should get to see Izzo play a variety of lineups throughout this season to best match that game’s opponent.
2. Fears assisting. While he ended the game with just eight, we saw his potential when he had five of those dishes in the first ten minutes. I will admit I said all offseason that I need to see Fears back in action before I could be excited about him, but from what I saw tonight, I am excited. With so many new names on this team, and old names in new roles, this team needs one guy who can run the offense, get people involved, and be an extension of Izzo on the court. After the first game, we look like we have someone who will do that effectively. In connection, MSU finished with 23 assists on 30 made FGs. Not too shabby.
3. Winning the rebounding battle. MSU won the battle of the boards 48-31. MSU had 15 offensive rebounds to the Hawks 11. While Zapala and Kohler were both significant here, with 8 boards each, it was actually Akins who led the way with 9. This is good. Izzo wants everyone involved in getting to the miss and getting the next play underway. The more guys who are dialed in and able to contribute in this category, the better.
3 Things I Disliked:
1. Three-point shooting. MSU finished the game 3-18 from deep, just 16.7%. In the first half, MSU went 1-10 on their triples. Monmouth went 8-27 in this game. Why are the Monmouth Hawks shooting so much better on their three-pointers than we are? Akins was 1-4. Fidler was 0-3. Booker was 0-4. This was shades of our early season three-point shooting last year. To remind you, MSU went 2-31 in the first 2 games last year. So we are not quite that bad, but still not good. This team needs to double that success rate as we get into the season.
2. Free throws. 18-27. 67%. Below the 70.6% the team shot last year at the stripe. It’s another thing that needs to be better.
3. Booker’s stat lines. Xavier, the former McDonalds All-American had a performance that I don’t think is going to have Izzo getting him a happy meal after the game. Booker shot 2-10 overall, including the 0-4 on 3’s mentioned above. He only added a pair of rebounds and one block. The other interior players, Zapala, Kohler, and Coope all remain as question marks on this roster. Booker needs to be the best and most consistent of that group to raise this team’s ceiling to its max. Hopefully we see a better showing from Xavier on Thursday.
How bout all of you? What did you see? What stood out to you?