{"id":8565,"date":"2023-11-07T15:17:22","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T20:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/?p=8565"},"modified":"2023-11-07T15:17:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T20:17:22","slug":"michigan-state-basketball-the-good-great-bad-and-ugly-from-jmu-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/?p=8565","title":{"rendered":"Michigan State basketball: The good, great, bad, and ugly from JMU loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michigan State basketball opened the season with lofty expectations, however, James Madison had other plans.<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s now been over 12 hours removed from one of the worst season-opening Michigan State basketball<\/a> losses ever. Michigan State opened the season with Final Four expectations, thanks to returning everyone except Joey Hauser. However, James Madison had other plans on how MSU would start the year. After another slow start, going down 13 points, and eventual four-point halftime deficit, Michigan State battled back. They would even eventually take the lead late in the second half. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even with a heroic performance from Tyson Walker as the game went into overtime, Michigan State would be stunned by an impressive James Madison team on the first night of college basketball.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I stated, I thought I would sleep on the game, in order to not allow emotion to dictate this G,G,B,U article. I don’t like to use these articles to go scorched earth on single players. After last night’s performance, however, I think criticism is warranted.<\/span> With that being said, having given it time, I think I’m able to dissect the Spartan\u2019s loss in a calm, reasonable manner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, here is the good, great, bad, and ugly from Tom Izzo\u2019s first career loss at the Breslin in November.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Good: Coen Carr<\/h3>\n

Coen Carr was a catalyst on Monday night. Fans were already excited to see the athletic freshman from the Spartans’ exhibition games, but there were legit concerns regarding his shooting ability. On Monday night, Carr forced Izzo\u2019s hand and demanded playing time, regardless of his shooting percentages. He came into the game and sparked a lackluster offense immediately. He altered the game and gave the Spartans life and a way out after the hole they had dug.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s not to say Coen didn’t have some freshman mistakes. Multiple times, Carr was caught ball watching and left his man for an open jumper. But I’ll take his defensive miscues if it means having a freshman with his confidence driving to the hole on the offensive end.<\/p>\n

On top of his natural, electric ability, Carr actually shot the ball extremely well. He finished the night 5-for-6 from the field with 14 points. Coen\u2019s ability to ignite the fans, provide above average offensive play, and, most importantly, alter the way the opponent plays offense will truly be the X-factor this season. <\/span><\/p>\n

Great: Tyson Walker<\/h3>\n

I don\u2019t want to ever hear Izzo refer to the transfer portal as a bad thing again. If it weren\u2019t for the portal, Michigan State would be without the best player on this Final Four-contending roster. Tyson Walker was nothing short of incredible on Monday night. Walker easily lead the team with 35 points and an eye-popping six steals. Both offensively and defensively, Walker put everything he had into this season opener. Even fighting through an apparent injury at one point, which is something to keep an eye on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker has faced James Madison before. Before transferring to Michigan State basketball, Walker played for the Northeastern Huskies. During his two seasons as a Husky, Walker played against JMU twice, averaging 19 points per game. He definitely has James Madison\u2019s number, and that showed again Monday night. Tyson was excellent in the Spartan\u2019s season opener. Besides Coen Carr\u2019s 14 points, Walker was effectively the only player who could score. There were multiple Michigan State runs throughout the game that were only contributed to by Walker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If there was any downfall to Walker\u2019s game Monday night, he, like the rest of the team, struggled from deep and from the free throw line. Tyson would finish the night 0-for-5 from downtown and 11-for-17 from the charity stripe. In a game that went to overtime, you wish to have even one of those back but you truly could not have asked for anything more from your fifth-year senior. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bad: Veteran play<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s get to what most people are talking about after Monday\u2019s loss to James Madison. Never before have I seen such a lackluster, disappointing performance from veterans on a Tom Izzo led team. This is obviously omitting Tyson Walker from this category. I absolutely hate singling out individual players in the bad and ugly part of these articles, but Monday night was terrible. Izzo himself said so after the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a good answer why three juniors and seniors played like they played, but I also don\u2019t care, because I\u2019ll play some freshmen,\u201d Izzo said<\/a>. \u201cLet the controversy begin.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Izzo decided to reward loyalty and started Malik Hall at the four. He would log 24 minutes and score just four points on 2-for-12 shooting. It’s extremely unfortunate, but Hall looked like an absolute shell of his former self.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mady Sissoko got the start at center, and finished with four points and just four rebounds. That cannot happen, especially when you are playing a non-conference opponent. Sissoko is an experienced big man, who was thoroughly outplayed. Everyone, myself included, has hoped and prayed that Sissoko would figure it out and become that next elite Big Ten big man. But it hasn\u2019t happened, and looks like it never will.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jaden Akins was tied for third most minutes on Monday night, and, similar to his veteran teammates, put up only four points. Akins saving grace was that he was able to come down with 11 rebounds. Doing so saves him from much further criticism, but as one of the top lethal scorers in the Big Ten, Akins cannot have dud games such as he did against JMU.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Michigan State\u2019s floor general was not able to get anything going either. AJ Hoggard was essentially non-existent for most of the Spartans’ season-opener. Finishing with 34 minutes, nine points, four rebounds and three assists is an OK stat line, but, when MSU needed him most, he disappeared. With just under two minutes remaining in overtime, Hoggard was subbed out and would not come back into the game until there was just 38 seconds left and MSU was down two. Granted, Hoggard had four fouls, but as a senior and a leader of this team, overtime is the time to step up and get the job done, as Walker did his best to. Not force Izzo to take you out and let the game go by without you.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope I never have to be as critical to individual players again, but I think Izzo will use this as a deep, painful learning experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ugly: 3-point shooting<\/h3>\n

I don\u2019t care who you play, and at what level, if you shoot five percent from deep, you will lose that game. Michigan State shot just 1-for-20 from three on Monday night. This is a team that shot 50 percent from three point land just a season ago. Going 1-for-20 is one of the worst three point performances I have ever seen from a Michigan State basketball team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes the ball just doesn\u2019t fall, for whatever reason. But, when that’s the case, the game plan has to change. Rather than continuing to shoot threes and watch that percentage drop more and more, you have to attack the basket. James Madison had almost every starter in foul trouble shortly into the second half. Rather than attack the basket and force JMU to play soft defense or risk starters fouling out, Michigan State continued to let it fly from deep. Even with a late lead, Michigan State kept shooting threes, trying to be the one to put the final nail in the coffin rather than drive to the hole and force a decision from the Dukes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I absolutely do not expect this to be the norm for the season. MSU will figure it out from deep. But, on a night in which so many other things went wrong, adding five percent 3-point shooting to the mix was detrimental.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For what it’s worth, one of the last times Michigan State lost their season opener in upset fashion, in 1999-2000, the Spartans would go on to win the national title. Just saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tough night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[217,291,59,205,228,200,190,189,504],"class_list":["post-8565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","tag-aj-hoggard","tag-coen-carr","tag-featured","tag-jaden-akins","tag-mady-sissoko","tag-malik-hall","tag-michigan-state-basketball","tag-michigan-state-spartans","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8565","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}