Carson Cooper “put a smile” on Tom Izzo’s face

Although he didn’t have his best game, Tom Izzo said that Carson Cooper “put a smile” on his face with his Maryland performance.

A lot of good things happened in Michigan State’s 63-54 win over Maryland on Saturday, but there were a lot of ugly moments as well. That sums up Carson Cooper’s performance in this game pretty well. He had moments where he looked extremely good but also had moments that left you scratching your head.

Cooper finished with just two points but made his presence felt elsewhere by grabbing six rebounds and blocking three shots.

Tom Izzo spoke a little about Cooper’s game during his post-game presser, and he shared similar “up and down” feelings about his game on Saturday.

The good and the bad of Carson Cooper’s performance

The first thing Izzo mentioned during his press conference was the good things that Cooper did on Saturday. Izzo said, “His effort to block a shot or his effort defensively, those put a smile on my face.”

It was very obvious to see that Carson did very well on the defensive end of the floor. Six rebounds is no joke and those three blocks were massive, especially the one he sent into the stands late in the first half. But similarly to the rest of Spartan Nation, his offensive game left a lot to be desired.

Izzo went on to say, “I didn’t think Cooper was as sharp, missed some dunks, some layups; those things drive me crazy.”

This pretty much sums up Cooper’s season perfectly in my opinion. He is undoubtedly someone who excels on the defensive end but struggles to score the ball. Last night may have been one of his better defensive performances as his three blocks are a season high. So I don’t think anyone needs to worry about what he brings defensively.

But the next step for Cooper is being able to develop an offensive game. He doesn’t need to be Michigan State’s go-to scorer, but he needs to score more than two points. I think it would be extremely helpful if he began averaging just 6-8 points per game.

The Spartans’ next game is at Minnesota on Tuesday night. He scored six points against the Gophers the first time around, so maybe he’ll be able to do something similar again this time.