Michigan State basketball: The good, great, bad, and ugly from Georgia Southern win

Bad: Freshmen

There is a caveat to this bad section. Most of the freshmen played well on Tuesday night against Georgia Southern. Jeremy Fears led the way in bench minutes with 18, and looked good during his time. He finished flirting with a double-double, 10 rebounds and six points. Coen Carr looked OK, but deserved some more criticism from Izzo and the coaches as he had just four rebounds and zero points. After the game, Izzo mentioned Carr was “struggling to defend perimeter players but showing the strength and toughness needed to go inside and battle on the boards.” 

Xavier Booker was the final freshman to see the floor, as Gehrig Normand is still expected to redshirt. Booker looked the most out of place and lost on the floor. He missed some shots, which is to be expected with inexperience. But what was more concerning was his lack of effort and constantly finding himself ball watching. Countless times, Booker did not get back on defense leading to easy buckets for the Eagles. And Tom would subsequently be forced to sub Booker out. 

As I mentioned, not all of the freshmen deserve to be a part of the minutes reduction. Fears has been a great third guard behind Holloman and Hoggard, and for a majority of the year, Carr has looked ready as well. Unfortunately, Booker seems to have both the most potential, but the largest project. The time will come for him, but Izzo seems to be right when he says some of the freshmen just aren’t ready to play.