Replacing Winston, Tillman a priority for Izzo as practice begins

For the first time in three years Michigan State opens basketball practice without the dynamic duo of All-American point guard Cassius Winston and do-it-all power forward Xavier Tillman.

And if the Spartans are going to be successful in their push for a fourth consecutive Big Ten championship, it will take group effort to replace two of the best players at their respective positions throughout the Tom Izzo era.

As if replacing Winston and Tillman weren’t enough, Michigan State is also tasked with an underappreciated senior leader and glue-type player in Kyle Ahrens.

“We’ve had some guys make serious improvements,” Izzo said, “but there’s no secret that we lost two very good players in Cassius and Xavier. In Kyle Ahrens we lost a stability guy. But we lost our two leading scorers and arguably the two smartest players that we’ve had in a long time. Their on the court presence was special.”

At point guard, Michigan State expects the duo of sophomore Rocket Watts and junior captain Foster Loyer to help stem the loss of the Big Ten’s all-time career assist leader. Those two returning players will get some help from incoming freshman AJ Hoggard, a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder from Coatesville, PA, who signed with Michigan State as the No. 75 ranked prospect in the 2020 Rivals150.

“The big question mark of course is point guard,” Izzo said. “We’ve played Rocket there some. We’ve really been pleased with the progress of Foster Loyer. Jack Hoiberg has done a good job and we’ve got a freshman that will play a little bit there in AJ. I’m not sure we can be as good as we were there, but we can be different, defensively and with our break there are things we can do.”

Watts improved substantially over the course of his freshman season at Michigan State, and Izzo expects big things from the determined second-year guard.

“He’s worked hard on his shooting, worked hard on his ballhandling,” Izzo said. “What he has to continue to do now that we can be together is watching film and making good decisions. He’s a pretty good passer. Nobody is going to be like Cassius, but he is a very good defender and he’s a shotmaker. He’s not afraid of the moment.”

Balancing the dual roles of scorer and facilitator will be a process for Watts.

“When he is at the point, part of his job is to get other people the ball,” Izzo said. “Shot selection will be a little bit more of a key. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen from him so far. I think if he stays focused and keeps working, there’s a lot of things he can give us.”

Replacing Tillman will be no easy feat. The Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year, Tillman was one of the best all-around defenders of the Izzo era given his ability to guard 1-5.

Fortunately, Michigan State has a bunch of forwards and centers capable of playing good minutes in the frontcourt. Sophomore Julius Marble has the physical tools most reminiscent of Tillman, and juniors Marcus Bingham Jr. and Thomas Kithier have the experience needed for more demanding roles this season. High-flying freshman Mady Sissoko gives Michigan State a much-needed rim protection component on defense. And don’t forget about Malik Hall, who has the ability to move between the four and the five depending on whether Michigan State opts to play big or small.

“We need Marcus Bingham (to step up),” Izzo said. “He is gaining weight, but it has been a slow process. We are very pleased with Julius Marble. He has improved a lot. Body-wise they have really improved a lot. Malik Hall has been another guy. And of course Mady Sissoko is a freshman coming in that we expect some big things from.”

It has taken a couple years for Loyer to adapt his game to the length and athleticism of major conference basketball. But Izzo believes that the former Michigan Mr. Basketball Award recipient has figured out how to play the point guard position within himself at the college level.

“He is a guy with a very high basketball IQ, and that is probably what he’s gotten the best chance to show this summer,” Izzo said. “He has gotten into the best shape of his life. He looks stronger and more comfortable out there. Now it’s up to me to me to give him the chance to play. He hasn’t had a lot of chances to play. That falls on the head coach and I’ll take all that pressure because I think he’s earned his way.”

Don’t be surprised if Loyer and Watts share the backcourt at times this season.

Loyer may never be a better than functional defender, but his ability to knock down perimeter jumpers is desirable with Winston no longer in the program. The third-year player has also shown the ability to effectively run Michigan State’s transition offense.

Part of Loyer’s maturation has been learning how to get his shot off against defenders with length and quickness.

“I think going against Rocket every day and some of the bigger guards that we have in Gabe and Aaron has helped him,” Izzo said. “He has a comfort level and the players respect him. They voted him captain. Those are all big positives. It’s gonna benefit him this season and me and us.”

Senior Josh Langford hasn’t played a game since having his basketball career derailed by a foot injury 13 games into a junior season during which he was averaging 15.0 points and shooting 40 percent from behind the 3-point line.

Izzo remains cautiously optimistic about Langford’s potential to help this Michigan State ballclub.

“Knock on wood, but he has been pretty solid,” Izzo said. “There are days where he looks like the old Josh. Up dunking and doing things that he really couldn’t do last year. I am trying to be cautiously optimistic about it for his sake and ours.”

Langford has gone from being a leader by example to leading vocally this year. He has shot the ball well during the off-season.

“He shot from a chair for four months,” Izzo said. “The guy never quit shooting, never quit working out. He watches a lot of film. The hardest thing is making sure Josh doesn’t try and get everything back in a week, a month, or even two months. We’re trying to work with our trainer, Josh, and myself of learning how to balance things. But there hasn’t been a lot of restrictions in the last month so that bodes well for him and for us.”

Izzo even indicated that he would give serious consideration to playing Langford in a starting role depending on how the next few weeks of practice unfold. For Langford to return to the starting lineup he’d have to earn it. Junior Gabe Brown has had as good an off-season as any player in the Michigan State program, and the once raw wing from Belleville has begun to use his impressive length and athleticism to his advantage on defense.

Izzo expects Langford to be fully invested in whatever role he plays this season.

“We made a decision, Josh and I together, that what’s meant to be is meant to be, and we’re going to be smart, but we are not going to baby anything. He wants to have a year, that’s why he came back, and we’re going to go for it.”

Marquette transfer Joey Hauser has waited a long time for his opportunity to play at Michigan State after sitting out the year required by transfers between D-1 programs.

And Izzo has waited a long time for an efficient perimeter shooting four-man like Hauser to fill a role that was missing from the Michigan State offense last season. Shooting, however, is just one of many skills in Hauser’s game that will be of use to the Spartans this year.

“He can pass, shoot, dribble, and defend,” Izzo said. “He can do a lot of things. What you’d probably be most surprised about is that he might be one of the best passers that I’ve had, definitely as a big man. Maybe the best passer since who knows who, but maybe that magical guy that was here a long time ago. For his size, at 6-8, 6-9, he sees the court really well and makes solid great passes. We all know he can shoot the ball.

“Joey has been every bit the billing that I thought he was. Every bit the player that I recruited out of high school and more. I just hope that he enjoys it as much as I think he’s going to.”

Hauser has impressed Izzo with his willingness to come out of his shell and open up to his teammates.

“He and Aaron Henry, Gabe, and Malik are really starting to form a good bond together,” Izzo said. “They really appreciate each other. I told him that’s what he had to work on because he’s kind of a quiet kid. That’s not what we do here. He has really improved on that during the summer. He’s starting to worry more about the relationships he has with his players and teammates and his coaching staff. That part has been exciting for me.”

While watching the NBA playoffs this fall, Izzo was impressed with the way the league created a positive atmosphere for players that simulated crowds even though the stands were void of actual fans.

Izzo believes that Michigan State can borrow from the NBA to give his players some semblance of normalcy. More important, stresses Izzo, than pumped in crowd noise and virtual fans is the camaraderie NBA players showed on the bench throughout the modified postseason.

“We can steal a lot from the NBA, I thought they did a phenomenal job,” Izzo said. “They energy level, the music, even the crowd noise that they came up with was phenomenal. And we’ve got some things planned on that. We’ve been telling our players that there are going to be a lot of things that fall on us and to watch guys making 30 or 40 million dollars out there cheerleading on the sidelines like Lebron was or Jimmy Butler was or other players were was kind of fun to watch and see.

“I think in general that we’re going to have to manufacture some of the enthusiasm and excitement. We are going to do some things in the arena to spruce it up. We will definitely have some crowd noise and music and what we are allowed to do. I am hoping and praying as this thing moves forward that we are going to end up with some fans and media in the stands before this thing is done. There is no question we are going to have to manufacture some of the excitement ourselves.”

Michigan State has been COVID free for two weeks according to Izzo, who indicated that two of his players had contracted the virus earlier this year.

In an effort to avoid another illness-related setback, Izzo continues to stress the importance of personal accountability.

“It’s going to be our obligation to take care of ourselves the best we can,” Izzo said. “That doesn’t give you a 100 percent that everything will be alright, but it gives you the best chance. We’ll be masking up and trying to take care of ourselves the best we can.

“Our university and the Big Ten in general have done an incredible job of trying to deal with this and giving us the best chance of trying to be successful. I think that the protocols that we have within our building is phenomenal. I take my hat off to everyone in our building from our janitors to our coaches, and to all the people that work in the Breslin. I feel like we’re really safe in Breslin.”

Izzo has little control over what happens outside of the Breslin Center.

“I can’t control the social bubble,” Izzo said. “When you see things happening around the country, more of it is because of what is happening off the court or field than what is happening on the court or field.”