You might have looked at that title and chuckled, but hear me out. The Michigan State men's basketball team is starting to figure things out, and it couldn’t come at a better time.
The Spartans have had some incredible highs and some rough lows on the court this season. I mean, we all witnessed that game at Iowa, right?
But despite that incredible collapse against the Hawkeyes, Michigan State is starting to click as a team.
The Spartans were falling flat as the team moved into February. Michigan State had lost three out of four games from Jan. 22 to Feb. 4. But after a close loss to Rutgers in New York to open the month, Michigan State would go on to win its next two contests over Maryland and Ohio State. After a strong start to the game, the Spartans had some scares against the Terrapins, but rallied back after giving up a 12-point lead in the second half to win.
Let’s move to the game at Michigan. That was more of an outlier.
It was the Spartans’ first matchup after the tragic mass shooting on campus that left three students dead and five more injured. It felt like the weight of the world was on those players’ shoulders to try to help uplift a shattered community, and they had enough gas in the tank to remain in a close one for nearly the whole game, but a late 3-pointer from Michigan's Hunter Dickinson led to the Spartans being defeated in Ann Arbor. MSU lost 84-72, but that really doesn’t show just how close that game was late.
All things considered, the result at Michigan didn't matter following what happened on Feb. 13, but the Spartans came out after a short week of practice and managed to keep themselves in a position to win for most of the game.
Then, against Indiana at home, Michigan State came out and shot 47.3% from the field and 47.6% from 3-point range, which lead to a big win against the Hoosiers. Last Saturday, despite the loss to Iowa, the Spartans shot an absurd 73% from 3-point range, a season-high.
Then on Tuesday, against Nebraska, Michigan State got back to its hot 3-point shooting after a very poor start, and eventually came back to defeat the Cornhuskers. Despite the abysmal first half from the field, the Spartans finished shooting 55.2% from beyond the arc, and 45.3% from the field overall.
MSU finished the game at Nebraska by shooting 16-for-29 from deep, and the 16 3-pointers in a game tied a Pinnacle Bank Arena record. Multiple Spartans hit two or more 3-pointers in the game: Joey Hauser, Jaden Akins, Tyson Walker and Malik Hall.
In the first three months of the season, Michigan State was shooting 35.9% from 3-point range. In February, the Spartans shot 44.1% from deep. Over the last two weeks, MSU has shot 53.2% from long range. Overall, MSU's season average from 3-point range is currently 39.4%, which leads the Big Ten.
If Michigan State can keep up the hot shooting the team has found late in the season, the Spartans will be a dangerous team to face in the NCAA Tournament. There are some areas that need improvement, and fans would like to see the team be stronger in the paint and a little less reliant on 3-pointers, but Tom Izzo’s team is starting to figure things out at just the right time. We’ll see what happens in March.
