MSU basketball: Video analysis of MSU’s loss to Memphis in Maui
Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch breaks down MSU’s loss to Memphis from the pool in Maui.
LAHAINA, Hawaii – Michigan State’s game against Memphis on Tuesday had the feel of a Sweet 16 game — the energy in the building, the intensity on the court, the quality of competition, the speed of it. This was MSU’s first such game this season.
The bandbox that is the Lahaina Civic Center allows for a fervor that’s otherwise hard to generate in college basketball in November. MSU’s game against Kansas in the Champions Classic, for example, had all the vibes of a closed-door scrimmage relative to Tuesday’s Maui Invitational semifinal.
The problem for MSU is that Tuesday’s game also had the feel of a Sweet 16 loss.
Like Kansas two weeks ago, Memphis is the sort of team you’ve got to beat to get where you want to go. Like with Kansas, there’s a small but distinguishable difference between Memphis and Michigan State. This time, it was the shot-making by Memphis’ Tyrese Hunter and the missed shots by MSU — including six straight misses early in the second half with the game tied at 36. MSU’s big guys didn’t play as well as they did Monday against Colorado, which was a better matchup for them.
So how do you get there with this MSU team? Where’s the room for growth? Who are the guys who can put you on par with Memphis and Kansas?
There’s a great college basketball team in the combined skill sets of MSU’s 10-man rotation. Unfortunately, for the Spartans, you can’t mix Szymon Zapala’s size with Jaxon Kohler’s offensive game and Carson Cooper’s one-on-one defense. You can’t take Coen Carr’s otherworldly athleticism and aggression and pair it with Xavier Booker’s length and outside shot. In every case, you lose something to gain something.
MSU’s best veteran guard, Jaden Akins, is a terrific college basketball player, but he does not always hunt offense like the Spartans need him to. Their best offensive guard is a freshman who’s becoming more and more trustworthy as a walking bucket, but, for now at least, I sense that it would be better if Jase Richardson could play the role of Robin to someone else’s Batman. And MSU’s sophomore point guard, Jeremy Fears Jr., is still figuring out who he is as a player and lead guard at this level and how to work around slight physical limitations that he didn’t grow up with.
In other words, while MSU might have a second five that would contend with any second five in college basketball, I’m not sure that any five players in the Spartans’ 10-man rotation are a great first five.
So the challenge is changing that as best they can.
Let’s start with what they have that should give them — and those rooting for them — some hope.
First and foremost is Richardson. That MSU wound up with a freshman of his caliber, a player whose production is becoming increasingly easy to trust, is a godsend. Tuesday, he scored a season-high 18 points in 25 minutes — and he still hasn’t attempted more than eight shots in a single game.
When you have a freshman who is this good this early, it changes lineups and possibilities for your season. MSU wasn’t counting on him. And now very much is. At some point soon, he’ll need to be paired earlier in games with Fears and Akins. MSU is letting too many possessions pass until they get to that grouping.
“He’s a shot-maker,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle aptly described Richardson on Monday.
By far MSU’s best shot-maker — and at his best when he gets the ball on the move headed downhill. MSU can progressively build its offense around Richardson’s game. Maybe as he becomes a go-to guy — instead of the guy who more often rescues MSU’s offense — it’ll benefit Akins, who right now feels the weight of go-to guys past on his shoulders. Tuesday, Memphis worked to take Akins away in the second half and, to a degree, Akins let them. To his credit, after he made a jumper to cut Memphis’ lead to 58-46, he tapped Fears on the back and said, “Keep looking for me.”
Akins is not MSU’s problem. He’s just not enough of the solution offensively.
But there is a world where MSU plays a three-guard lineup that becomes a force — with Richardson, Akins and Fears or Tre Holloman. They aren’t playing enough together yet, but that’s the look Izzo and his staff are usually choosing when the game is getting away from them or time is ticking away. Again, they need to get to that lineup earlier and regularly. If you’re going to find a five that can contend at an elite level this season, I promise you that a three-guard lineup, featuring both Richardson and Akins, is a part of that five.
FROM 2023: Couch: Jase Richardson is following his dad to MSU, but his mom shaped his game
Fears is another reason for optimism. He is still figuring it out and that isn’t always perfect. But if you watch how he competes — including subtle taunts toward opponents — and how he pushes the ball and his priorities on offense, I think there’s potentially a really good point guard in there, one that we’ll see this season.
MSU’s big men are also not perfect. But they’re not bad. They got outplayed and at times an out-toughed Tuesday, but not outclassed. That’s different than the last couple years. They should be upset with how they performed Tuesday. They should expect more of themselves and be held to a higher standard. Because they’ve shown it. If Kohler, Zapala, Cooper and Carr play with grit and intensity on every possession they’re in the game, they’ll do well on the glass and just fine defensively.
It’s up to MSU’s coaches to figure out the matchups each game and pairings that make sense with MSU’s big guys and understand that certain groupings can’t be on the floor together, because they cripple the spacing. If Kohler or Xavier Booker start stretching defenses, the conversation might change.
That’s still got to be a hope, too — because MSU needs one of them to start hitting 3s (preferably both of them). The Spartans could also use Frankie Fidler to be a more ready catch-and-shoot guy. MSU needs a forward to force hard close-outs from defenders or just start hitting outside shots. That would make a world of difference. Kohler and Booker have the attention of defenses from long range, but not their concern. They’re a combined 5-for-38 from beyond the arc through seven games.
If that percentage could go from 13% to 35%, MSU will have a different season. Both have smooth enough looking shots to keep at it.
MSU also has Carr, a player whose athleticism stands out among even great athletes. And a player whose game and confidence has grown significantly since last season, even if he doesn’t yet have the green light to let it fly from long range. I don’t know that that part changes this season. So work with what he is — a player who’s a bear in transition, an increasingly efficient cutter and driver to the basket — and challenge him to be the rebounder he should be.
Carr might not always be in MSU’s best lineup, but if he’s out there then, it should be at power forward. The coaches have realized this. He’s playing most of his minutes there now. Tuesday, he played his first five minutes in the first half and his first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half at small forward. The other nearly 14 minutes were spent at power forward. It’s only the initial rotation in each half, which is predetermined, when he’s on the wing. When MSU’s coaches react to what’s happening in the game, Carr plays the 4.
The best news for MSU is that this is a team full of guys in new situations — Akins, Fears, Richardson, Fidler, Carr, Kohler and Zapala. And seven games in, the returns have been more promising than not.
Izzo didn’t like that his team “got punched in the mouth and didn’t respond early enough” against Memphis. But lack of toughness and response hasn’t been a trait that’s plagued this team. So it’s a learning experience against perhaps the best team MSU has played yet. A team the Spartans can beat but, right now, for certain, are less than.
Next up is a beatable North Carolina team (9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, ESPN2). A big brand without the quality of big man the Tar Heels had last March when they outclassed the Spartans in the NCAA tournament.
This MSU team hasn’t been outclassed. It’s just not quite there. What we don’t know is whether the Spartans are just not quite there — yet. Or have a roster that’s just not quite there.
MORE: Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State’s 71-63 loss to Memphis in the Maui Invitational semifinals
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and on Blue Sky @GrahamCouch.
