Michigan State basketball: Quartet of guards dominate Minnesota

The quartet of Michigan State basketball guards were the difference on Thursday afternoon in a win over Minnesota.

Michigan State basketball got off to a great start in the Big Ten tournament with a win over 9-seed Minnesota. This win essentially cements the Spartans in the NCAA tournament that begins next week. It also sets up a showdown with 1-seed Purdue on Friday.

There isn’t much time to focus on this game, but the quartet of Spartan guards deserve a lot of credit for showing up when Michigan State needed them most.

Michigan State guards lead the way

Tom Izzo received some backlash recently after saying his team’s struggles this year fall mostly on guard play. Izzo essentially shared that the Spartan guards need to play much better, and their failure to do so is one reason for their struggles this year. This group must’ve heard that message because they responded in a big way.

The foursome of AJ Hoggard, Tyson Walker, Jaden Akins, and Tre Holloman all exploded for Michigan State against Minnesota. The group, led by Hoggard, combined for 50 points, 15 assists, and 13 rebounds. We’ve seen this group play well individually, but rarely have we seen them put it together at the same time.

So maybe Izzo was on to something. Sure, the team could use some help down low, but this team is led by its guards and they are supposed to be dominant. They haven’t fully answered that calling this year, but that appears to be changing in the postseason.

The sky is the limit if this group continues to play this well. The Spartans’ next game is against Purdue, so they will need to dominate again if they want to have a shot. However, if we see another performance like this on Friday I wouldn’t be surprised to see MSU upset the Boilermakers.

It’s too soon for me to get overly excited knowing how inconsistent this group has been this year, but I’m one game away from being fully on the hype train for a deep NCAA Tournament.