EAST LANSING – Monmouth wasn’t James Madison. Far from it.
Then again, Michigan State basketball didn’t look like the same team from last year’s season-opening loss. Or even the one from two exhibition games.
The Spartans smothered the Hawks defensively from the outset, jumping out to a 17-2 lead in the first seven-plus minutes and getting tested afterward before pulling away to an 81-57 victory Monday night at Breslin Center.
Jaden Akins scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half for the Spartans, who host Niagara on Thursday (8 p.m./Big Ten Network). The senior went 8-for-12 from the floor and added nine rebounds and five assists.
Yet questions lingered as Tom Izzo’s 30th season began. Including continued deep-shooting struggles and a surprising rebounding deficiency against the smaller-yet-gritty Hawks.
Akins finished just 1-for-4 from 3-point range. Xavier Booker went just 2-for-10 and missed all four of his 3-point tries, finishing with four points and two rebounds. MSU’s outside shooting trouble in two exhibition games and a summer trip to Spain persisted, with the Spartans going just 3-for-18 from deep.
Jase Richardson added 10 points in his MSU debut, while transfer center Szymon Zapala added nine points and eight rebounds.
MSU finished with a 48-31 rebounding edge, though the Spartans extended that gap in the final 10 minutes. The Hawks had 11 of their boards on the offensive glass, another concern for Izzo with much bigger opponents ahead. Abdi Bashir Jr. had 20 points while Justin Ray and Madison Durr each added 12 for Monmouth, which finished shooting 27.9% overall and just 8-for-27 from 3-point range.
Closer than expected early
After a stunning overtime loss to JMU in last year’s opener, an eventual NCAA tournament team that finished 32-4, the Spartans made sure it didn’t happen again. Even though Monmouth, which went 18-15 a year ago, gave them some fits.
The Hawks showed their New Jersey toughness by scoring the first five points out of the locker room and twice cutting MSU’s lead to six early in the second half. The Hawks got three off-balance and contested 3-pointers from three different players to keep within reach before mounting foul trouble – four players each had four – thinned their ranks and wherewithal.
Akins scored nine straight points for the Spartans, including a second-chance 3-pointer off a missed free throw to spark a 26-10 knockout punch over a nine-plus minute span. After a 3 from Andrew Ball kept Monmouth within 10, MSU ripped off the next seven points, including a thunderous drive and two-handed dunk from Coen Carr with the shot clock about to expire and an Akins dunk off a steal and feed from Richardson.
The Spartans did most of their damage in the run with starting wing Frankie Fidler on the bench. The Omaha transfer finished with nine points on just 2-for-7 shooting with three rebounds in his MSU debut.
Rotation focus
Coming off a 20-15 season with a second-round NCAA tournament exit in 2023-24, the Spartans found themselves in trouble in the second half after building an early 15-point lead.
Izzo’s big tasks for his players coming into the game was to get them running in transition and using their size advantage against the Hawks, who went 18-15 last season. His primary mission was to figure out what combinations of players would work best together.
MSU started the same five it did in exhibition wins over Division II Northern Michigan and Ferris State. And off the jump, four of the five touched the ball, with Booker winning the tip to Zapala, who dropped it off to Fears for a lob to Akins for an alley-oop dunk. Fears, who missed all but 12 games last season after getting shot in December, followed with a quick first-step driving layup. Zapala then established the paint presence by getting fouled – another offseason priority for Izzo – and scoring on a deep post-up before the Spartans went to the bench.
When he did, after a Fidler foul-line jumper, Izzo turned to a four-man group of Tre Holloman, Carr, Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler. Richardson eventually joined them for a full second-unit lineup, hitting a floater for his first official collegiate bucket. The freshman then picked up a drop-off assist to a trailing Kohler for a 3-pointer, and the junior collected a loose ball off a Fears drive for an in-close layup to put MSU up 17-2 with 12:52 left in the half.
From there, Izzo mixed and matched his starters and the second unit, with freshman Kur Teng making a brief appearance. After starting 2-for-17, Monmouth stayed in the game at the free-throw line before the Hawks started hitting tough 3-pointers to pull within 38-27 at halftime.
In the second half, Izzo was more judicious early. He got Kohler, Holloman and Richardson in early while limiting his playing group to eight guys until the outcome was decided.
Kohler finished with eight rebounds and five points, while Fears had eight assists and three points.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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