For the first time in a couple since Niagara, Michigan State basketball picked up a stress-free win. The Spartans looked to be in for a shootout early on Monday evening against Colorado, but the defense stepped up and locked the Buffaloes down, holding them to well under their season average in both shooting percentage and points in a 72-56 win.
The Spartans improve to 5-1 on the season and head into the semifinal game of the winners bracket, playing Memphis on Tuesday who upset No. 2 Connecticut earlier in the day.
Tom Izzo has to be pleased with his team’s effort in the win despite shooting just 2-for-21 from three again. These poor shooting numbers are bound to turn around soon, right?
Let’s get into my quick thoughts.
I’m going to take the positive approach to the poor 3-point shooting so far this season. Michigan State is beating some teams handily (Colorado included) and the Spartans are doing so while being one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country. And they went just 2-for-21 from deep on Monday.
But just imagine how good they’re going to be when these shots start dropping. They make 1-2 more against Kansas, they likely win that game. They hit a couple more against Samford or Bowling Green and those games are over far earlier. And Michigan State had just two on Monday and still won by 16 against a 4-0 Big 12 team. Impressive.
The defense is locking teams down, they’re taking good shots (28-for-40 inside the arc), and they rebounded the ball well once again. This team is an average 3-point shooting percentage away from being really good.
It’s been a few years since Michigan State has had this type of depth. The Spartans’ bench actually out-scored Colorado’s 40-13 which just goes to show that this depth is insane.
When you have guys like Jase Richardson (more on him in a second), Coen Carr, Xavier Booker, Tre Holloman, and Carson Cooper coming off the bench, you know you have depth. And that’s not even mentioning the former blue-chippers in Kur Teng and Gehrig Normand who could fill in in a pinch. This depth is going to take this team far and it once again played a major factor against Colorado.
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but as long as Richardson continues to play as well as he has through six games, he’s not going to be in East Lansing any longer than his dad was.
And if you remember, Jason Richardson left Michigan State after his sophomore year.
Jase is that good.
While I’m not saying he’s his dad reincarnated, I do believe that he has the talent and potential to play at the next level. He scored a team-high 13 points on Monday night and was 6-for-8 from the floor and 1-for-2 from deep. He’s shooting well over 60 percent from the floor this season and 50 percent from deep. He added four rebounds and an assist and just continues to impress.
Enjoy him while he’s still here. He could be gone as soon as next season.
