Michigan State basketball continued ots hot shooting for the third game in a row on Thursday evening against Stony Brook.
Michigan State basketball used its momentum from Baylor and Oakland wins to beat the Seawolves by the largest margin of victory this season, 44.
Michigan State started the game hot, scoring the first seven points before Stoney Brook recorded a basket. It was pedal to the medal from there. A 36-point halftime lead extended in the second half, and would eventually be stretched to a 99-55 victory. Jaden Akins and Tyson Walker led the way for MSU with 22 and 17 apiece, but everyone played their part to perfection, even including some walk-ons.
Let’s get into the Good, Great, Bad and Ugly from Michigan State’s third straight non-conference home win.
Good: Freshman play
We have highlighted some freshmen play in a good or great section of this series before. However, Thursday night, the young group put together their most balanced performance of the season. Everyone, Xavier Booker, Jeremy Fears, and Coen Carr all played extremely well and balanced. It didn’t hurt that they were all provided with almost 20 minutes of playing time due to the nature of the blowout, but still. Time on the court is valuable no matter what.
Carr provided eight points and six rebounds, while electrifying the crowd as he normally does. Fears, while his scoring hasn’t quite come through yet, acted as a true floor general. He would finish with 10 assists and five rebounds. Scoring as a true freshman point guard is an extremely difficult thing to do, so seeing him get others involved on Thursday night at such a high assist rate in lieu of scoring was great to see.
Booker finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, which was likely the most impressive performance of the three. Booker has received the most criticism from fans, rightfully so. He has looked lost and overmatched at times. On Thursday, though, he would put up a great showing as a true stretch four. Scoring from deep while also crashing the glass. Similar to Jaden Akins, more on him in a minute, his development and better play could be the key to success for the rest of this season.
Great: Jaden Akins
Jaden Akins has not performed, offensively, as he was expected to this season. Akins was a guy who tested the NBA waters, and decided to come back to work on a few things and improve his stock. He has fallen short of that by a large margin so far this season. However, while his offensive shot has been missing, he still has provided great defense and unselfish play, something Tom Izzo has pointed out multiple times this year.
At the end of the day, Akins is a great shooter. Last season alone, he shot 42 percent from three. When great shooters are stuck in a slump, they usually shoot themselves out of it. And that’s exactly what Akins has been doing.
Against Stony Brook on Thursday night, Jaden Akins provided his normal above average defense and high flying ability, but what was most promising was his 22 points and 57 percent shooting from deep. These are obviously far beyond his season averages of 10 points and 35 percent, both of which received a great bump from his performance last night. Akins has looked better and better each game during this non-conference stretch, and it’s exactly what Michigan State needs. He will be the X-factor moving forward. An X-factor who can truly lead this team to the tournament and beyond.
Bad: Free throws and offensive rebounding
I’ve decided to combine these two aspects into one from Thursday night. Both were what I would consider to be below average for Michigan State basketball standards, but weren’t game wreckers. Michigan State finished their game against Stony Brook going just eleven for seventeen from the line, which is just 64 percent. Free throw shooting has been somewhat of an issue for the Spartans this season, but 64 percent is even below their season average of 67 percent. As games become closer and closer throughout Big Ten play, that 64 percent will need to be increased tremendously.
Offensive rebounds were the other issue Michigan State struggled with on Thursday. While the Spartans out-rebounded Stony Brook as a whole, as they should, they were limited on the offensive rebound side. Just six of their 45 rebounds came from the offensive end, which essentially eliminated any opportunity for second chance points. Stony Brook, on the other hand, finished with 16 offensive rebounds. This could have been a direct result to their gameplay strategy, if MSU wanted to make sure people were getting back as a shot was put up, but Stony Brook’s offense is mostly made up of 3-point shooting so I don’t think this was the case.
As I mentioned, MSU still out-rebounded the Seawolves, but offensive rebounding might be something to watch.
Ugly: Steven Izzo hopefuls
Michigan State won by their largest margin of victory on Thursday night. In similar situations this season, Tom Izzo has normally gone with Davis Smith as his first walk-on to make an appearance. As the game winds down, Izzo will then go with Nick Sanders and his son, Steve Izzo. Davis has gotten into the scoring column this season already, and on Thursday, Lions legend Barry Sanders’ son, Nick Sanders, joined him after nailing a three. Steven, however, remains scoreless in his MSU career. Even though he saw one extra minute compared to Sanders’ one, Steven was unable to get a shot off. He did, however, grab a rebound and an assist to help set up his freshman teammate Sanders.
Every game that is put away with over five minutes remaining comes with the “we want Steven” chant. And, based on the crowd’s reaction from Nick’s 3-pointer, the roof may actually explode when Steven Izzo scores his first field goal. Unfortunately, that’s more of an if than a when. We’re all cheering for you Steven.
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