Michigan State basketball<\/a> got back above .500 on Monday night with a 79-62 win at home against Oakland. Here are some rambling thoughts a takeaways.<\/p>\n1. Oakland\u2019s zone worked\u2026 until it didn\u2019t<\/h3>\n
Oakland\u2019s zone scheme was a potentially challenging wrinkle for Michigan State because of its shooting struggles. Early on, it did its job. The Spartans routinely worked late into the shot clock and struggled to score. It showed what remains a problem for the Spartans. Even when they got good looks, they weren\u2019t always able to convert. As the game wore on, the Spartans continued getting quality shots and finally knocked some down.<\/p>\n
Overall, the offense against the zone was exactly what you\u2019d like to see. MSU was patient and tried to get the ball into the paint. They didn\u2019t fall in love with threes and continued to crash the offensive glass. Oakland\u2019s version of the zone isn\u2019t the best barometer, but this was an encouraging evening for MSU\u2019s offense. The Spartans dished out 23 assists on 29 made field goals. You can\u2019t ask for much more efficiency than that.<\/p>\n
2. Promising night for MSU\u2019s bigs<\/h3>\n
Nobody has taken more criticism this season than Mady Sissoko and Carson Cooper. If MSU can get this version of their offense moving forward, they\u2019ll be much better off. Combined, Sissoko and Cooper went 6-for-6 from the field for 14 points.<\/p>\n
In the first half, Sissoko used his size to establish position before converting a baby hook over his right shoulder. That\u2019s exactly the type of shot that’s missing from MSU\u2019s offense. We know at this point it won\u2019t be there consistently for either guy. But if opponents at least have to respect that aspect of their game, that might be enough. Even though this was a good matchup against an undersized Oakland team, Sissoko and Cooper did their job by hauling down eight rebounds each. Efficient offense and dominant nights on the glass are how MSU can start to fix its problems in the front court.<\/p>\n
3. Xavier Booker needs to play<\/h3>\n
Speaking of the frontcourt, we saw more of Xavier Booker again. Once again, he showed glimpses of great potential. His length can be a weapon on defense. His shooting touch can transform the Spartan offense. This is a crucial time for Booker. The light schedule combined with the space between games will give him a chance to prove his worth to the staff in practice. The two biggest issues with this team are frontcourt play and shooting. Booker provides both. At this point, it\u2019s worth seeing if he can work through his flaws with game experience. His development can give the Spartans a different dimension in February and March than they have right now.<\/p>\n
4. Jeremy Fears Jr. is going to be awesome<\/h3>\n
Not exactly news here. But the more we see of Jeremy Fears Jr, the more there is to like. It\u2019s pretty telling that he\u2019s able to earn the minutes that he has on a team with this type of talent at the guard position. He sees the floor so well. He doesn\u2019t speed up when he gets into the lane. He\u2019s already got a really good floater that can take some guards years to develop. He still has plenty of work to do to earn minutes in crunch time. But so far, MSU should be thrilled with how far along he is as a true freshman. It is going to push AJ Hoggard and Tre Holloman that much harder knowing Fears is right on their heels in the pecking order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This team is finally playing well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":10290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[59,190,189,504],"class_list":["post-10269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","tag-featured","tag-michigan-state-basketball","tag-michigan-state-spartans","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}