Michigan State’s larger than usual player rotation in a 79-54 win over Minnesota last weekend was partly by design and partly by necessity.

Michigan State wanted to limit the minutes of star point guard Cassius Winston, but foul trouble sidelined the Big Ten Player of the Year candidate longer than the Spartans would have liked. As a result, freshman Foster Loyer played 11 minutes against the Golden Gophers.

A first-half injury to senior forward Kenny Goins paved the way for freshman Thomas Kithier to play a career-high 19 minutes. Kithier probably would have played a handful of minutes against the Golden Gophers if Goins hadn’t suffered an injury. It is unlikely, however, that he would have played as many minutes as he did.

Freshman wing Gabe Brown played five minutes in a reserve role off the bench, and freshman power forward Marcus Bingham clocked six minutes. Izzo was glad to get Bingham time against the Golden Gophers. In retrospect he would have like to have gotten more time for Brown, who has the physical skillset to contribute now, but is extremely raw overall.

It seems doubtful that Michigan State will continue to allocate as many minutes to its developing freshmen class beyond guard Aaron Henry, a mainstay in the Spartan rotation throughout the season, as it did in a blowout win against Minnesota. At the same time, it is also clear that lack of depth beyond Michigan State’s regular seven-man rotation was a contributing factor in the program’s recent three-game losing skid.

Michigan State is a veteran ballclub that needs its youngsters to play support minutes effectively to maximize its potential in the all-important month of March.

“This team’s gonna go how Cassius, Nick (Ward) and (Matt) McQuaid go,” Tom Izzo said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “Kenny Goins is a very important part to the puzzle. Xavier Tillman, very important. Kyle Ahrens, he didn’t even practice last week. My biggest issue now is health. It really is. So those freshmen are gonna play, but if you think they’re gonna play big games and be ready for that, I hope you’re right and I’m wrong.”

Freshmen have and will continue to play key roles on Izzo-coached teams.

Aaron Henry, for example has seen his role increased throughout the his first season in the Michigan State program. But playing other members of this class in the regular rotation more minutes than they are ready to play at this point in their development is not without risk.

Given the lack of instant-impact freshmen like Miles Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr, and Gary Harris on this Michigan State team, a slow and steady approach appears to be the best path forward with this crop off freshmen.

“You’re gonna get them some time, but there’s reasons all over the country people are not playing, not a lot of people playing a ton of people, especially a ton of young guys,” Izzo said. “We’re gonna see if we can continue to work those guys in.”

Ideally, Michigan State wouldn’t have to play the rawest members of its freshmen class before their ready to perform basic tasks such as a fighting through screens, an issue for Brown, or playing on-ball defense against athletic, physically mature guards and wings capable of attacking off the dribble, an issue for both Loyer and Brown.

If Langford were healthy, Michigan State wouldn’t need to be thinking about expanding it’s rotation in mid-February. But Langford’s done for the year, and a couple of key individuals in Michigan State’s initial seven-man playing group are dealing with minor, yet nagging injuries. Goins, the team’s best rebounder, suffered painful elbow injury last weekend, while junior Kyle Ahrens continues to work his way back from a minor back injury.

Coming into the season, Izzo felt that Brown, Kithier and Bingham, were potential redshirt candidates. Kithier because he missed his entire senior season due to an eligibility issue resulting from his transfer from Macomb Dakota to Clarkston. Brown because he is raw in terms of basketball experience in comparison to most freshmen entering Big Ten programs. Bingham was a redshirt because of his need to add weight in a college strength program.

“When I got those guys, I thought we’d redshirt two of them. I really did, just because of the strength and size — and maybe even three,” Izzo said. “We definitely played them because of necessity. I’ve got a pretty good seven-, eight-man (rotation). It was a good eight-man group with Josh, now with him out it’s down. But I think they can play some minutes.”

Injuries to Goins and Ahrens, as well as the prospect of playing starters like Winston and Matt McQuaid into the ground has Michigan State coaches mulling over their long-term options in regard to their rotation.

There is no perfect solution. For Michigan State’s experienced players to maximize their potential, however, the Spartans need to get consistent contribution from their youngsters.

It starts with Henry.

Henry has given Michigan State positive minutes as both a back-up and as a starter. At this point in the season, however, Henry needs to push through the freshman wall that has encircled in recent games. He can break through that wall by focusing on the little things.

“I think we gotta get more out of Aaron,” Izzo said. “Aaron’s the one guy that I think — gets a couple of rebounds early, then he doesn’t get another one for the rest of the game. He’s gotta do more.”

Brown, and Bingham have substantial long term value to the program, but presently the holes in the games of each player presents a certain amount real-time risk.

Loyer, for instance, is fantastic in the running game getting the basketball to scorers. He struggles, however, on defense against opponents that have a size and speed advantage. His inability to defend the drive is problematic against opponents that exploit that weakness in his game.

But there is also risk involved with playing the style of basketball Michigan State plays with a strict seven-man rotation, especially for individuals like McQuaid and Winston. Bear in mind, the Spartans are asking McQuaid to log minutes at point guard against teams where Loyer is severe liability on defense.

And when McQuaid is asked to play point guard, the Spartans need to get production out of Ahrens, Henry, and Brown as wings.

“The problem that we have is because of the lack of depth on those wing guys, when you put McQuaid at the point, now you gotta play more guys,” Izzo said. “But I think Gabe, we should have played him a little bit more. It’s just hard when there’s two freshmen in there, because Thomas was in there and now we gotta get three freshmen in there.”

Kithier and Loyer both took steps to toward gaining trust with their respective performances against Minnesota. Kithier is further along in that regard, and could work his way into the role of a viable fourth big man for Michigan State. His development this year mirrors the development of Xavier Tillman a year ago. Tillman started his freshman season in the bench, but kept chopping wood. He prepared himself mentally and gradually worked his way into the playing rotation.

“Kithier did a good job; he’s done a good job every time he’s come in,” Izzo said.

Kithier is surprisingly functional. He is not, however, ready to give Michigan State what it is getting from Goins, an elite rebounder, savvy defender, and an emerging stretch-four.

“And then with Kenny, he’s really valuable to us because of all the things he does well. Maybe none of them great — (except) rebounding — but none of them poor,” Izzo said. “He gives us that ability. So there’s no freshman that can do that right now. We’ll get a little bit more out of the freshmen that played, encouraging for the future, future meaning a year from now.”

Loyer has taken positive steps with his allocated minutes. But the present deficiencies in his game are such that Izzo is still committed to playing McQuaid as his back-up point guard in games against quality Big Ten opponents.

“(Matt) can play some point,” Izzo said. “I think Foster did play better, and that was encouraging. It’s just a matter of, we even had some of our game plan in that game because of their rebounding strength was to put Kenny at the 3. And if I would have done that, it would have given me more room to play Matt, and then Kenny went down so we were really stumbling around.”

McQuaid turned in one of his best all-around performances of the season against Minnesota, playing outstanding defense against a talented scorer like Amir Coffey while delivering the scoring that Michigan State needs from its wings to overcome the loss of Langford.

McQuaid has played more than 30 minutes in each of Michigan State’s games since Langford’s injury. He has played 37 minutes or more in three of Michigan State’s past seven games. Those minutes have stressful minutes too, given that McQuaid is routinely asked to defend against the opposing team’s top perimeter scoring option, while also being required to run the floor in transition on makes and misses on offense.

“If you look at who he’s covered on all these teams, if he isn’t – I’m not gonna say one of, maybe the best defensive player in this league, that’s something I have a great feel for, and Matt has done an unbelievable job.”

McQuaid played 32 minutes for Michigan State against Minnesota, which is a good number for him given his dual role on offense and defense.

McQuaid scored 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting against Minnesota and he also recorded eight assists with zero turnovers in the win.

“It was the first time, and I would agree with this, that he did it on both ends of the court,” Izzo said. “He shot like the guy we recruited. And then remember, some of that was the injuries over those two years.”

Izzo is justifiably concerned that McQuaid will not get his due as one of the elite defenders in the Big Ten. That would be a shame given the job that he has done in locking down some of the elite scorers in the conference including Carsen Edwards, James Palmer, Romeo Langford, and Jordan Bohannon among others.

“If Matt McQuaid doesn’t get mentioned as one of the best defensive players in the whole damn country much less the Big Ten I think it’s a joke,” Izzo said. “They go on whether a guy blocks a shot or whether a guy gets a steal. Well, we’re not a team that’s pressing, so I mean, he has locked up more great players. Coffey, the job he did on him and everybody else and it seems like we look more at who’s got steals instead of an actual individual performance. But Matt McQuaid not only did he do a great job individually defensively, but his offense really came to fruition. And having all that done with so many strange lineups in there was great for us.”