Izzo leads the team overseas for some offseason exhibitions
The Michigan State men’s basketball team recently took a trip to the other side of the Atlantic for a series of exhibition games. The tour began last Thursday in Madrid when the Spartans took on the Madrid All-Stars. They next played on Sunday in Valencia against the Valencia All-Stars. The final game was Tuesday in Barcelona against the Barcelona All-Stars Serbian club KK FMP.
The game against the Madrid All-Stars was a narrow MSU victory, 94-87. In that game, Coach Izzo went with the lineup that many here at TOC had predicted, with one glaring change. The starting five against Madrid was Jeremy Fears Jr., Jaden Akins, Frankie Fidler, Xavier Booker… and Szymon Zapala. There were some bright spots for the Green & White. Booker led all scorers with 21 points, 19 of which came in the first half. This came on the heels of a 4-6 display from three-point land. New Spartan Frankie Fidler also showed out, scoring 14 points on an efficient 5-7 shooting (he also was 4-4 from the FT line). And back from his gunshot wound that ended his freshman season (though he has received a medical redshirt), Fears dropped in ten points to go with six dimes and two steals. The part of the box score that will cause Spartan fans to raise an eyebrow was Akins’ performance. The senior struggled with his shot in this game, finishing 0-11 including 0-6 from deep. Off the bench, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper each hit double digits with 13 and 10 respectively along with 12 and 9 rebounds. And human highlight reel Coen Carr contributed 8 points.
In the second game, Izzo plugged in a whole new starting lineup, going with Tre Holloman, Jase Richardson, Carr, Kohler, and Cooper. Despite the surprise lineup, MSU absolutely destroyed the Valencia All-Stars by a final score of 105-59. Carr led all scorers with 20 points, and he also had seven boards. Several Spartans reached double-digits in this one. Kohler was the only other starter to reach that mark, while Fidler, Zapala, and Akins in a bounceback performance (5-10 overall) all got there off the bench. Richardson and fellow freshman Kur Teng each had nine. All 14 players had at least two points in this one. We probably can’t draw any conclusions from this game.
MSU finished their Spain trip by taking on a professional team from Serbia, KK FMP, a team that qualified for Europe’s Champions League (a tournament of all the top national teams from the previous season) this year. Izzo went back to the starting lineup he used in the Madrid game (is Zapala going to be our starting center this season?). This was a high scoring matchp, but in the end, MSU fell 115-110. Again, MSU received balanced scoring. This time, Fidler led all Spartans with 18, followed by Akins (16), Kohler (13), Richardson & Booker (11), Carr (10), and Zapala (9).
This last game had two developments of note. The first was the play of Jaden Akins. He played aggressively and was a major creator for the Spartans, getting off quality shots and being effective when he was passing it. This is an important development, especially against a higher level of competition than the first two international games. Akins needs to be someone who helps get the offense flowing after the departures of AJ Hoggard and Tyson Walker. The second thing to mention is that Izzo was rolling out a lineup at times with Xavier Booker sliding over to center while Coen Carr came in to be the power forward. This combo’s size and athleticism created matchup problems for KK MFP.
Overall, this trip gave Izzo and Co. some good film to help prepare for the season and should have given them some confidence in the progress that several players have made since last season (not to mention the potential of the new guys).
In other basketball news, it was announced that Michigan State will be playing against Colorado to open up their play in the Maui Classic over Thanksgiving weekend. If they win, they will advance to take on the winner of UConn vs. Memphis. The other side of the bracket features Auburn, Iowa State, Dayton, and North Carolina.