Michigan State basketball: Observations from 86-55 win over Georgia Southern

Michigan State basketball took care of Georgia Southern on Tuesday night. Here are some quick observations.

On Tuesday night, Michigan State basketball enjoyed a comfortable 86-55 victory over Georgia Southern. The reality is, this isn’t the sort of game where you’ll learn much about your team but there are still some trends and takeaways that mean more when you put them in the context of the season as a whole.

Here are three primary observations to keep tabs on moving forward.

1. New starting lineup

Just before tipoff, we got news that Mady Sissoko was entered back into the starting lineup over Carson Cooper. This was semi-surprising after it seemed Cooper had taken over the starting center spot the last time the Spartans took the court. It’s possible Izzo rotates them back and forth throughout the year based on matchups.

The larger surprise was Tre Holloman getting the nod over senior guard, AJ Hoggard. Purely speculation but it seems as though this decision was in response to Hoggard’s inconsistent effort throughout the early season.

Hoggard, Holloman and Jeremy Fears Jr all ended up playing a similar amount of minutes. Hoggard found his rhythm in the second half on both ends of the floor. Michigan State is deep at the guard position and Holloman played well, but in order for this team to reach their full potential, the senior guard has to play to the level of his expectation on a regular basis. We’ve yet to see that from him this season.

2. Three-point shooting struggles continue

Entering the game, Michigan State was 12th in the Big Ten in three-point shooting percentage. That stat likely won’t change after tonight as the team continued to struggle even against an inferior opponent. The Spartans shot 5-for-18 from beyond the arc. This team misses having a set jump shooter like Joey Hauser. It’s still too early in the season to overreact too much but with conference play around the corner, it may be time to accept that this team will underperform preseason expectations in these areas.

3. Defense and Rebounding continue to impress

The Spartans have continued to look like a top-tier defensive team throughout the early part of the season. While the rotations and shooting continue to fluctuate, defense and rebounding will keep this team in every game this year. The Spartans held Georgia Southern to 11 first-half points. Regardless of opponent, that’s an impressive effort.

The second half was somewhat of a different story.

While Georgia Southern scored more in the second half, the effort declined after the lead ballooned to 37 points. Also, as the team began to pull some of their primary players, it allowed Georgia Southern to hit more shots. the Spartans outrebounded Georgia Southern 46-25 and forced 15 turnovers.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the rotations and starting lineup in the coming weeks. The young players on the Spartans performed well tonight and are pushing for more time. Tom Izzo will undoubtedly love the 10 rebounds from Jeremy Fears Jr. We knew coming into the season. Izzo would have his hands full trying to distribute minutes. Once the rotation gets established, we should begin to expect more consistent effort on both ends of the floor and beyond the arc.