The Hoop Feed: Loyer plays big in 83-67 victory over EMU

East Lansing, Mich. - It was Joshua Langford’s return and Joey Hauser’s debut, but Foster Loyer briefly stole the spotlight during Michigan State’s 83-67 victory over Eastern Michigan in the season opener, Wednesday at Breslin Center.

Loyer started at point guard and scored a game-high 20 points, with 17 of them coming during a red hot first half. He was 5-of-7 from 3-point range in the first half and finished 6-of-10 from behind the arc against Eastern Michigan’s zone defense.

Loyer’s performance reflected the form he has been showing in the off-season in being voted a tri-captain, and in earning the second start of his career.

“This is who Foster is,” Langford said. “He is going to lead us. He is going to do his job and I’m happy for him because it’s kind of difficult playing behind Cassius (Winston). But one thing about Foster is he stayed consistent day-in and day-out, doing his job. I’m happy to see him get some reward.”

Later in the first half, Loyer nailed three long-range shots without a miss to give Michigan State leads of 22-19, 30-19 and 38-23.

“To his credit and his competitiveness, he made shots and we got him good shots,” Izzo said. “That was a double-plus. And they probably weren’t guarding him the same.”

Loyer was noticeably more comfortable in looking for his shot.

“I think that’s a mindset thing,” he said. “I think that’s embracing your role and doing whatever you can to put yourself in position to succeed.

“For me, it was a lot of work to bear down and get that confidence back to shoot the ball and be the facilitator I know I can be.”

Loyer was a legendary scorer in high school, but has been passing in his first two years at Michigan State.

“It’s not necessarily that I lost my confidence,” Loyer said. “I think when you’re playing that role, just being in the game to be a ball-mover, I think you kind of lose sight of what you do well and you try to fill your role and not make any mistakes and play error-free. I think that’s tough because as a guard, and a guy that is going to get that extra pass from my teammates, you need to have the mentality of being aggressive.

“It was more of an approach that I’m going to go out there and be me and play within myself and do what i can do to help my team.”

Don’t expect those shots from Loyer every night. He pointed out that all games will be different. Against this team, against a zone defense, the open shots found him.

“Our team does a great job of being unselfish,” Loyer said. “And we are going to make sure the open guy gets the ball and be confident in our teammates.”

The opponent’s scouting report will change from this point forward in regard to how they defense Loyer. EMU’s defensive approach changed in the second half. The Eagles’ zone got out on Loyer more aggressively in the second half, and Hauser came to the forefront with easy buckets around the rim.

Hauser bounced back from a frustrating first 30 minutes of the game to finish with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Langford, seeing action for the first time since December of 2018 after a 23-month bout with a foot injury, had 10 points, two rebounds and one assist. Langford was 3-of-8 from the field, ran well and jumped well. He played 21 minutes.

Tom Izzo wore a towel over his shoulder all night in honor of the late John Thompson, but Izzo wasn’t quite himself on the sideline. He didn’t work the officials and stayed seated most of the night.

During time outs, he instructed his team from his seat on the bench, rather than his customary place out on the court in a folding chair.

“A little bit of a tough day for me, a little more fatigue than normal,” Izzo said. “The only people happy were those zebras, those officials. They were happy because I sat there most of the game.”

Izzo returned to practice on Monday after 14 days of self-isolation following a bout with COVID-19.

Eastern Michigan was without six players in this game due to contract tracing concerns. Head coach Rob Murphy said none of the players are showing symptoms, but they had been in contact with a team manager who tested positive.

“We didn’t have three centers, a couple forwards,” Murphy said. “We needed those guys to help anchor our zone and rebound the basketball and finish inside. I give our guys a lot of credit for coming in and competing with the No. 13 team in the country on their own floor. I am very appreciative of their fight for 40 minutes.”

So was Izzo.

“I want to take my hat off to Eastern Michigan,” Izzo said. “He (Murphy) could have canceled out of this game when he lost those big men to COVID. He played it and I’m greatly appreciative for that. He could have canceled out yesterday or today. I take my hat off to him and the whole Eastern Michigan staff.”

Eastern Michigan took a 19-17 lead on a Miles Gibson 3-pointer. But Michigan State answered with a 13-0 run. Loyer hit two 3-pointers during the run and Gabe Brown added one from the right wing in transition.

Michigan State outscored Eastern Michigan 26-8 for the remainder of the first half, following the Eagles’ brief lead.

Henry led Michigan State with seven assitss, to go along with four rebounds.

Henry, a junior, has added muscle since we last saw him, and his passing vision seems to improved too. Maybe too much.

“Aaron Henry was too unselfish tonight,” Izzo said. “We have to get him more shots.”

Henry was 2-of-3 from the floor.

“Some of those he passed up led to assists,” Izzo said. “He rebounded well. He played good defense. He acted like a true captain.”

Izzo was understanding of some of the rust Langford and Hauser showed.

“I was pleased with how (Hauser) and Josh played, consdiering the time off they had,” Izzo said.

Langford was playing for the first time in 23 months, after batting through surgeries and contemplating retirement to return for a fifth year at Michigan State.

Hauser sat out last year after transferring from Marquette.

“You sit out that long, it’s hard,” Izzo said. “Joey was so excited yesterday and today to play and Josh was bouncing off the wall.

“Joey Hauser has been a rock here. He played hard. You saw how hard he rebounded. He goes after the ball. You didn’t get to see his passing skills yet. That zone is difficult to go against, I don’t care if they have big guys or not.”

Hauser had three turnovers in a shot span in the first half. On two occasions, he threw inside-out passes in the zone defense out of bounds and into Izzo’s hands.

“Joey had to settle in a little bit,” Izzo said. “I told him I was disappointed he let one turnover become three.

“What’s great is when guys respond. In the second half, he said he just got over it.”

Hauser got going in the second half, thanks in part to a pair of nice interior feeds from Marcus Bingham.

Hauser was 0-for-2 from 3-point range.

“As you can see, I was kind of struggling to get into the flow of the game,” Hauser said. “Struggling to find myself. I think I was rushing a little too much.

“My teammates picked me up. My coaches stayed on me.”

When Hauser checked out of the game after a turnover, Izzo told him to sit down next to him.

“(Izzo) just old me to keep my head high,” Hauser said. “He let me know that he had my back but I needed to pick it up and get going.

“That’s what the rest of my teammates were doing, just picking me up and making sure I didn’t hang my head.”

Langford airballed his first shot attempt of the night, a step-back 3-pointer from the right wing, :90 seconds into the game. He said he thought it was going in.

“That’s how it goes, that was my first shot in two years,” he said with a smile. “It is what it is. Now I have a game under my belt and I can keep going.”

Langford broke through with a 3-pointer from the left wing as part of the zone offense, giving Michigan State a 17-10 lead.

Later, he nailed a triple from the right wing to give Michigan State a 35-23 lead.

“As the games keep progressing, I will get more and more into a rhythm,” Langford said.

* With Loyer in the starting lineup, sophomore combo guard Rocket Watts came off the bench.

Watts had trouble getting into the flow about Eastern Michigan’s zone.

Watts played 23 minutes (Loyer played 25). Watts was 1-of-6 from the field, 0-for-2 from 3-point range. He had three assists and one turnover.

“Rocket was probably a little frustrated but didn’t play frustrated and that was encouraging,” Izzo said.

* Junior Gabe Brown looked bigger and as energetic as effer. He made the most of his touches. He scored 12 points in 17 minutes. He was 4-of-7 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

“I said at the beginning of the year, Gabe was probably playing as good as anybody coming off the wing but I just think he’s an instant offense guy, like Morris Peterson, coming off the bench,” Izzo said. “I really appreciate that and I think he is going to warm up to that. I’m going to try to make him the best sixth man in college basketball. I really think he has a chance to do those things.”

* Thomas Kithier started at center and provided his usual role. He played 15 minutes, scored 2 points - on a lay-up from Henry. Kithier had two assists and only one rebound.

“I like the fact that Thomas gives us stability but part of me likes him off the bench, too, because I know what I’m getting,” Izzo said.

* Marcus Bingham moved well and seems to have removed some of the awkwardness to his game. He came off the bench to score six point in 15 minutes. He had three assists.

“I was impressed with Marcus Bingham,” Izzo said.

* True freshmen Mady Sissoko and AJ Hoggard played in the late minutes. Hoggard, who missed some practice time this fall due to minor surgery, has some weight to lose, but looked quick and strong with his jab step and drive, although he had the ball stripped for a steal on one occasion.

The 6-foot-10 Sissoko looked long and big. He played six minutes, collected two rebounds and had two blocked shots - one of which sent the Michigan State bench into hysterics.

“I think they’re still looking for that ball he blocked,” Izzo said.

Sissoko missed four free throws.

“We’ll get to the point where we figure out who’s best coming off the bench and who’s not, and what we do with Rocket and Foster and even at center,” Izzo said. I’m really impressed that Marcus is getting better.

“So there’s some decisions to make. The sad part is there is not a lot of separation so that makes it harder on the coach. You

hope they start separating themselves so that they make the decision on who starts and who doesn’t. Starting is not always the end-all. What’s important is who’s playing and what minutes they’re playing.”

Michigan State will play host to Notre Dame at 8 pm on Saturday (BTN).