Xavier Booker is growing up right before our eyes

Following a career performance on the road against the No. 2 team in the country, Xavier Booker is proving to be a budding star.

The loss to Purdue on Saturday, in my eyes, was a very strange one. Obviously a loss is never a good thing, but there were still a lot of positive takeaways for the team as a whole and some individual players. Xavier Booker to me stood out once again in this game and is starting to shape into a really solid player as the season comes to an end.

Xavier Booker is improving fast

Saturday night was Booker’s best game of his career, and it came in Michigan State’s toughest game of the season. Purdue is a solid all-around team, but they have the National Player of the Year in Zach Edey that Booker had to battle. And Booker lived up to the test.

Booker finished with a career-high 11 points and added two rebounds as well. His defense was not great against Edey, but does anyone do well against him? I’m not gonna hold a rough outing defensively against a guy nobody defends well. But Booker’s offense is his strong suit and he put that on full display.

Booker did it all on offense, from a powerful and-1 dunk to consecutive triples over Edey early in the game. His presence was felt every time on the court, and that’s why he finished +11 overall during the game.

This game was massive for his development as difficult matchups like this will help him learn the most. But that fact makes me question why Booker didn’t play more earlier this year.

Booker needed these games earlier this season

When you think about it, it’s pretty remarkable that Booker was able to play this well against Purdue. He rode the bench all season, never playing in a big game yet this year, but was asked to play significant minutes against one of the best teams in the country. The fact that he was able to get his career-high in this game is astounding.

Imagine if Booker had been thrown into the big moment earlier this year, though. Imagine if he had played a lot against teams like Duke or Arizona. Would he have struggled mightily against them? Absolutely. But he would have seen so much growth from those games and would’ve been even better off at this point in the season.

Obviously we can’t go back and change the past, but Xavier Booker is proving to us that he is ready to be “the guy” for MSU down low. He needs to be the starter and play a majority of the minutes in the post going forward. He clearly gives Michigan State the best chance of winning, so it’s time to finally roll with him.