Thursday night was a long time coming for junior forward/center Jaxon Kohler. A preseason foot injury derailed his sophomore campaign. He still played in 21 games during the 2023-2024 season, but Kohler did not live up to pre-injury expectations, through no fault of his own.
After an offseason full of putting on more mass and working on his game ahead of the 2024-2025 campaign, Kohler was the standout performer in Michigan State’s 96-60 win over Niagara on Thursday night.
Kohler recorded career-highs in both points, with 20, and rebounds, with 13, against the Purple Eagles. He shot 8-for-12 from the field and only played 18 minutes. It was his second career double-double.
“On the court, it felt great,” Kohler said after the win over Niagara. “On the court, it felt like I finally got to show people what I’m capable of. It’s been a weird, difficult road and (on Thursday night) I felt like I really showed people what I could do. Not only that, but I can do more in the future.”
Head coach Tom Izzo complimented Kohler’s effort on the glass in his postgame press conference.
“He just went,” Izzo said about Kohler. “As I tell our guys, effort-related things is a choice. It’s a choice. Do you want to do it or do you not want to do it? You want to go or do you not want to go? You want to run or do you not want to run? Effort-related things are a choice and I give him credit. I told (everyone) he was the best player I had all summer and he did some good things.”
These types of games don’t just pop up on the radar randomly. It takes hard work in the offseason and that’s exactly what Kohler did – so much so that his teammates took notice.
“Jaxon changed his body,” guard Tre Holloman said about Kohler. “He looks so much better. He’s been in the weight room, been in the gym. Nobody works as hard as Jaxon.”
It wasn’t just toning his body either. Sure, that definitely helps, but Kohler focuses this offseason on more than just getting stronger.
“Jaxon is a beast,” Holloman continued about Kohler. “Jaxon is a monster. Jaxon has that mindset that he’s gonna kill anybody that’s guarding him. The rebounding piece, that’s just effort-related. Jaxon’s been doing that last year, (but he) got hurt. This year, Jaxon’s better, listening more, being more coachable. The results show.”
The results didn’t fully lament in the first game of the season for the Spartans – an 81-57 win over Monmouth. He scored five points and grabbed eight rebounds. However, the three turnovers really stood out on the stat sheet.
Those mistakes in the Monmouth game allowed Kohler to be all the more motivated to put out a good performance against Niagara.
“In ways, I’m happy that I had that game, so that I could lock in and focus on the next game and focus on having the best game possible,” Kohler said.
