In the past week, Jase Richardson had not only been named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team but the All-Big Ten Third team as well.

Having started the season coming off of the bench, early on he contributed to his team not by his volume of scoring, but by his efficiency.

Then came February 8th.

Michigan State was fresh off of an 0-2 west coast Big Ten road trip and were set to face Oregon at the Breslin Center. In a must-win game, Tom Izzo decided to insert his freshman, Richardson, into the starting line-up when Fears was ruled out due to sickness.

What happened next is what you might call a coming out party.

Richardson bullied the Ducks all afternoon and helped lead the Spartans turn a 14-point halftime deficit into a 12-point victory. In that game, Richardson scored a career-high 29 points on 9-13 shooting, combining volume and efficiency in his first start as a Spartan.

In the ten games since joining the starting lineup, Richardson has been averaging nearly 16 points per game and has been a focal point for a Spartan offense that has now won eight straight games, each of which are currently considered Quad 1 wins (the best a win can be categorized).

Early on in Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal rematch between the Spartans and the Ducks, it was clear Oregon was doing everything in its power to prevent Richardson from having the same impact that he did in the first matchup.

Oregon was putting heavy pressure on Richardson both when the ball was in his hands and when he was playing off of it. They weren’t going to give anything easy to him and when he did attempt to make something happen they made sure to foul in a way to make sure he wasn’t going to make the shot.

If Michigan State was going to beat Oregon, the Ducks were hellbent on making sure it was done at the hands of anyone but Richardson. This strategy of containing him was executed at a pretty high level, as Richardson finished the first half with just five points on 1-5 shooting.

However, thanks to a 7-0 run to finish the first half, the Spartans went into the half leading by 10.

Despite this, Jase knew his offensive performance was uncharacteristic.

“He came to the bench in the first half and said, ‘I missed a couple shots, I took a couple bad shots,'" said Izzo. "It is rare for a player, especially a freshman, to recognize their mistakes and acknowledge them."

Despite Oregon throwing everything at him - including their bodies at times - Richardson responded in the second half like the cool, calm, collected player we have seen all season.

“He's just very efficient and very intelligent, and he knows he's got to do some things when we get stagnant," said Izzo. "He talks to me about moving the ball more."

Michigan State’s 10-point halftime lead quickly evaporated into just a one-point margin at the under-16 media timeout. Over the next 5 minutes, though, MSU went on a 15-0 run, capped off by a triple and a fadeaway jumper by Jase.

He didn't let his misses in the first affect his confidence in the second.