Michigan State basketball<\/a> fell short against an opponent, losing 115-110 against KK FMP on Tuesday.<\/p>\nNo, this isn’t something to get down about because KK FMP is one of the top professional Serbian teams and it has some legit dudes on the roster, including a player who was drafted by the Warriors about a decade ago and the point guard from the Fairleigh Dickinson team that beat Purdue in 2023.<\/p>\n
It was clear right away that KK FMP was no joke as it raced out to an 8-0 lead almost immediately and it took a Xavier Booker three to stop the bleeding.<\/p>\n
Michigan State trailed the entire way and got within two at one point only to see KK FMP go on a run.<\/p>\n
In the end, Michigan State probably could have completed the comeback if it had crashed the boards a little harder and didn’t miss so many bunnies and free throws. There are some correctable mistakes from this game but it was a good showing from a team with tired legs.<\/p>\n
Here are my top three takeaways:<\/p>\n
1. Frankie Fidler looks like that go-to scorer<\/h3>\n
While Jaden Akins had a much-needed bounce-back game after a slow start to the Spain trip, scoring 16 points, it was Frankie Fidler who caught my eye. He had a team-leading 18 points and was comfortable shooting in the mid-range and getting to the rim. He looks like the go-to scorer that Michigan State needs after losing Tyson Walker to the NBA.<\/p>\n
I would like for him to be more comfortable catching and shooting from long range as he seemed a bit hesitant to hoist the deep shots up. Michigan State needs more deep shooters and he has to give the Spartans that.<\/p>\n
2. Jaxon Kohler is the best center on the team<\/h3>\n
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Jaxon Kohler is the best center that Michigan State has.<\/p>\n
Sure, you could argue that a small-ball lineup with Xavier Booker at the five would give Michigan State its most dynamic five, but Kohler looks like he has turned a corner as a player and scored in double figures for the third straight game with 13. He hit a three, made some nice turnaround jumpers, and scored near the rim. His defense is even getting better as he looks quicker on that end of the floor.<\/p>\n
While Szymon Zapala showed flashes on Tuesday and Carson Cooper is a veteran, Kohler is the guy at the five.<\/p>\n
3. MSU didn’t quit against a team of pros<\/h3>\n
Playing a third game in less than a week, it would have been easy for Michigan State basketball to mail it in and play a lackadaisical game. But Tom Izzo will never allow that. The Spartans looked tired from the get-go, but they never quit.<\/p>\n
Even when KK FMP hit a big three to go up 109-97 with a couple of minutes left, the Spartans didn’t quit. They converted on a four-point trip and then played some tight defense to even cut the lead to four. Ultimately, Michigan State lost by five but this team showed a lot of grit.<\/p>\n
There are no moral victories in basketball, but playing a legitimate pro Serbian team tight like this on one day of rest after a 50-point win is impressive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have to rebound and make bunnies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[190,189,504,211],"class_list":["post-18871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","tag-michigan-state-basketball","tag-michigan-state-spartans","tag-news","tag-tom-izzo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18871","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}