The Michigan State men's basketball team has a long way to go if it wants to achieve its goals during the 2024-2025 season.
The Spartans took care of Ferris State by a final score of 85-67 in their final exhibition game Tuesday night, but there are certainly both some concerns and some positives to take away.
“We’ve got a lot of moving parts, and … there might be lineup changes,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said after the game.
“It’s not the best players, it’s who plays the best.”
As expected, some experimenting went on against the Bulldogs. Some of the experiments worked, while some didn’t. The “best” lineup was a three-guard look that put Coen Carr at the four position and Jaxon Kohler at the five spot, according to Izzo.
“We wanted to see different lineups,” Izzo said. “We wanted to see guys playing against different people. We did what we wanted to do, and I’m sure (the different lineups) hurt us a little bit, but you’re going to give a little credit to (Ferris State) too.
“I think after 30 years, I’d be smart enough to not kind of sub like we subbed. I think I hurt our momentum, but we went into the game — we went into these two (exhibition) games with one thing that we needed to do, and that’s — nobody’s kind of raised their head above anyone else, as you saw (Tuesday).”
It should be noted that the Bulldogs are a very solid Division II squad. Ferris State is ranked No. 25 going into the season and advanced to the D-II Elite Eight last season, losing to the eventual title winner Minnesota State. FSU won a national title in 2018 under current head coach Andy Bronkema. Ferris State was ready to compete on Tuesday.
Izzo was happy at how his team defended Ferris State’s Ethan Erickson, who led the Bulldogs in scoring last year. Erickson shot just 1-for-7 from the field and scored five points.
“We actually did a pretty, pretty good job on Erickson …,” Izzo said. “You watch him on film, the kid’s a hell of a player. Really is a good player. Reminds me of that (Braden) Smith kid from Purdue.”
Tough shooting nights were going all around. The Spartans had plenty of open looks, but shot just 7-for-22 (31.8%) from beyond the arc.
“We haven’t been shooting the ball great, but some of our best shooters have been Tre Holloman — he didn’t shoot very well tonight,” Izzo said. “You know, Xavier (Booker) didn’t shoot very well tonight. You know, those guys have been really good shooters for us, and they (usually) make a couple of those.”
Jaden Akins has also had a tough time during Michigan State’s exhibition games. MSU’s leading returning scorer amassed just three points on 1-for-5 shooting, and was 1-for-2 at the free-throw line on Tuesday. Akins also only scored four points on 2-for-12 shooting during Michigan State’s first exhibition win against Northern Michigan on Oct. 13. These exhibition games don’t count, but the senior guard hadn’t been held to fewer than five points in back-to-back appearances in the past two seasons.
“I think Jaden’s got to get Jaden going,” Izzo said about Akins. “I mean, we came off wanting to get him shots and putting the ball on the floor and taking it in there and (he’s) not going anywhere, you know. I mean, I think he wants to prove to the world that he’s a passer, and I need him to prove to the world that he’s a shooter.
“I need Jaden to play like the kind of player Jaden is.”
Even before the games matter, it is apparent that true freshmen Jase Richardson and Kur Teng deserve a spot in Michigan State’s rotation.
Despite only playing 10 minutes, Richardson took and made three shots for eight points, including two 3-pointers, along with three rebounds, an assist and a steal. MSU was plus-19 with Richardson on the court.
Teng scored nine points in nine minutes of action to go with two offensive rebounds and a steal.
“Kur and Jase maybe played as well as some of our veterans,” Izzo said.
The Spartans also looked good on the offensive glass, racking up 16 total offensive rebounds and ending the day plus-13 in rebounding differential. Despite that, MSU only had eight second-chance points to Ferris State’s 12.
“All those great offensive rebounds and kick outs, those are the threes that should fall, so (it’s) hard to complain about missed shots,” Izzo said.
Instead, a good chunk of Michigan State’s offense was in transition. MSU ended up with 30 fast-break points, a pretty large number for a team ranked 210th in offensive tempo last year, according to KenPom.
Regardless, there is not much reason to worry much about a college basketball team in the month of October. The 2024-2025 college basketball season is much more of a marathon than the sprint that is college football. These exhibition games are a lot more about testing out lineups and trying out different things before the games start counting, and some potential changes are coming.
Year 30 of the Izzo era is set to officially begin on Nov. 4, as MSU will take on Monmouth i the Breslin Center. That game will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and the game can be viewed on Big Ten Plus.
Full Tom Izzo press conference:
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