1. MSU shows it belongs. That can only be enough for so long.
ATLANTA – For a Michigan State basketball program trying to prove it’s still elite and trying to rise up to a level where it once existed comfortably, Tuesday night’s 77-69 loss to Kansas wasn’t all bad.
MSU, with a lot of young guys playing big minutes and older guys in new roles, went toe-to-toe — and sometimes brick-for-brick — with a Jayhawks team, that while ranked No. 1, has some work to do as well.
Still, people think Kansas is going to contend for a national championship and they don’t think MSU is in that realm and, Tuesday night in the Champions Classic, they were in the same realm. So, there’s that.
What should be frustrating for MSU is that it could have won this game if it could have found some offense earlier, if Jaden Akins had given more than two points on 1-for-8 shooting and two rebounds in 26 minutes, if it could hit more than 3 of 24 3-point tries.
It’s great for the Spartans to know they belong. But this was a chance to win. And at some point, belonging stops being of any solace.
I don’t think we’re there yet for this MSU team, which will grow from this — Frankie Fidler, Jace Richardson (see below), Jaxon Kohler (also see below), Jeremy Fears and so on.
For Akins, this sort of night simply won’t do. He wasn’t even on the floor during important parts of the second half. MSU’s coaches were going with the players who were producing. Akins has to produce for MSU to win these sorts of games. Not just points. In every aspect he has to be a presence.
Lots of things are starting to come into focus — including that three of MSU’s top four players off the bench (Kohler, Richardson and Coen Carr) might be three of their best players.
With more games ahead against top teams — perhaps UConn and others in Maui — there will be chances to show growth, for MSU to prove it can win these games. But the Spartans could have won this. That’s both great news for them and frustrating.
2. Jase Richardson is MSU’s best pure scorer
Let me ask you this: If MSU needs a bucket right now, who do you want to have the ball?
I’ll answer: It’s Jase Richardson.
Through three games, he’s MSU’s most pure scorer. I think he’ll remain that all season, even if he doesn’t lead the team in points. You can see it. We should trust our eyes on this one. Richardson is a spark just about every time he’s on the court. He was again Tuesday night, especially in the first half, shooting 3-for-5 for eight points, after hitting a combined 8 of 12 shots for 22 points in MSU’s first two games.
HIs pull-up 4-point play (a 3-pointer while being fouled) with 1.7 seconds left in the first half was as big a bucket as there was all night, after a Kansas run threatened to leave the Spartans down 10 at the half. Midway through the second half, his drive and dish to Jaxon Kohler (a play that began with Richardson rescuing Fears, who’d lost his dribble) was an example of the instinctual playmaking he provides.
There’s a smoothness to his entire offensive game and a trust in his shot that’s just different than the other guards on floor. That’s both good and bad for the Spartans. They need more of their guys to get in a groove offensively, beginning with Jaden Akins. But Richardson has been a revelation as a true freshman. I thought he’d be a 12-minute-per-game guy who’d have his moments and have a role. Instead, he’s played 20 minutes in two of MSU’s three games and is trending toward being a guy who needs to be on the court in crucial moments.
Tuesday night, increasingly he was, including at the end.
An important night for Jaxon Kohler
We saw it last Thursday against Niagara — Jaxon Kohler showed most of what everyone had been hoping he’d become as a player. But 20 points and 13 rebounds against Niagara comes with an asterisk (*against Niagara).
Kohler’s Tuesday night against Kansas in the Champions Classic was stronger proof. Kohler looked the part on a stage that comes with credibility — 12 points, including a second-half 3-pointer and a dazzling up-and-under move, to go with 10 rebounds and a blocked shot in 23 minutes.
He alone wasn’t a defensive answer to Hunter Dickinson, though he held up as well as any of MSU’s other bigs.
But everyone who watched the game saw Kohler be a factor. They saw him in MSU’s closing lineup — and on the floor for a long while down the stretch. MSU could use him to become a bit more efficient with his shot, inside and out. But the Spartans can win a lot with Kohler on the court. And, from the looks of it, he will be.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
