In the midst of his 31st season, Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans find themselves in a slump. This group knew they wouldn’t have the best outside shooters coming into the season, especially when the top two shooters from last season—Jase Richardson and Jaden Akins —both moved on to the pros. MSU had to turn to the portal, and they thought they had brought in a pair of useful players in Trey Fort and Kaleb Glenn . However, a preseason injury and inconsistency quickly changed that.
Now the Spartans find themsleves in a two-game slump, and not only are they struggling to shoot the ball. Now, Michigan State can’t get things going early, and in two of their last three games, it has cost them late.
Two Key Problems Arising in Michigan State’s Skid
It all began with a road trip to Rutgers three games ago. The Spartans started slow, and then found themselves having to dig out of a halftime deficit, eventually needing overtime to escape Piscataway with a win. Jeremy Fears Jr was the hero that night, scoring 29 points, 10 alone in the extra period. The team’s shooting has been pretty limited for much of the season as it is.
Glenn’s injury that has kept him out all season may have made a difference, but that’s something the Spartans won’t see this year. In Fort’s case, he’s kind of been in Izzo’s doghouse with his defensive liabilities. So Kur Teng and Divine Ugochukwu had to find a way to give it their best. The only issue with that duo is that they can have some moments, but they also have proven to be inconsistent.
In Fears’ case, he can score, but he’s not a very good shooter from deep. That has been the killer for this team. Especially in the last two games, when rival Michigan made eight threes, shooting 38 percent. The Spartans have since let a struggling Minnesota team go 10-21 from deep. The shooting has been a massive issue for Michigan State for the last several years.
Spartans can still overcome, but they have some issues that need to be addressed
It’s the stage Izzo’s team goes through every season. The early February slide is a real thing for the Spartans. As they prepare for a huge clash with No. 5 Illinois at the Breslin Center on Saturday, Michigan State needs to get back to basics. They have played pretty subpar for the better part of two weeks. Not to mention their leading post players haven’t been themselves as of late.
From Jaxon Kohler ‘s struggles from beyond the arc, to Carson Cooper just playing sloppily. Did I forget? Fear’s on-court antics are starting to get worrisome. Especially against Minnesota, where his incident with the Gophers’ Langston Reynolds ended a massive run for the Spartans. Coach Izzo had quite the message about Fears, following the game.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to start him the next game,” Izzo said in his postgame press conference. “… Jeremy’s gotta grow up a little bit.”
It certainly doesn’t help that Michigan’s Dusty May was critical of Fears when talking to the media this week. In this day and age, once someone starts something about a player, things only get tougher for that player.
Obviously, Michigan State has some work to do, but they still have a chance to overcome this slump.
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