1. This was a game MSU would have lost last season
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The biggest questions remaining for this Michigan State basketball team entering January are how the Spartans will finish close games, where they will go for a bucket and how they will handle pressure from these moments in a difficult environment.
Answer these questions correctly and this is a team that has the makings to compete in the Big Ten and perhaps beyond.
We learned a little more in Friday night’s 69-62 win over Ohio State — a game in which MSU took control, then took a punch and had to respond down the stretch.
The Spartans will face tougher environments — there was a notable contingent of MSU fans and plenty of “Go Green, Go White” chants that filled Value City Arena. But this was a Big Ten road game against a potential NCAA tournament team, a team with talented offensive weapons, and a game that many teams will lose in conference. A game the Spartans probably would have lost last year, as senior Jaden Akins said in the locker room afterward.
This MSU team didn’t do it. Those are the kind of wins that put you in contention. And there were some enlightening responses.
First, MSU’s closing lineup that night: Jeremy Fears Jr., Jaden Akins, Tre Holloman, Coen Carr and Jaxon Kohler. It was the lineup that made sense, given how the match was going. And I think this is the lineup we’ll see most often, perhaps with Jase Richardson and/or Xavier Booker making appearances.
In the end, Akins pursued the position in a way he didn’t always do. This was a good sign for the Spartans. They need him to deliver. Akins’ one-handed shot with 2:30 left — after an Ohio State 3-pointer brought the Buckeyes within three — was among his biggest shots of the season.
MSU looked calm late with the ball in the hands of Akins and Fears, although they didn’t always get a perfect shot. The ball continued to move. They made their free throws (8 of 10 in the last four minutes). I didn’t turn the ball over once in the last eight minutes. They continued to defend. And so, they’re 12-2 and 3-0 in the Big Ten.
These are games MSU lost last year.
“When adversity hits, I feel like we get stronger and we just have confidence in ourselves that we can do the job,” Akins said.
2. We see the advantage of skilled big players with good hands
It’s hard to underestimate the impact of having most of MSU’s big men’s minutes going to players who have good hands, feel for the game, and see it well enough in real time to adapt and improvise.
A critical early sequence of Friday night’s game was won by MSU in part due to Szymon Zapala’s ability to create space, catch and finish around the rim and, in one case, MSU’s ability to play through Jaxon Kohler to Zapala. On this play, Fears called Kohler like he was asking for a screen, Kohler stopped at the free throw line, Fears threw it to him and Kohler turned around and passed it over to Zapala to a layup. This play couldn’t have happened last season – Kohler missed too much time early in the year to have this in his arsenal and he wouldn’t have had anyone to throw it to anyway.
Zapala was outstanding for most of the night – thanks to his driving dunk that ignited the MSU bench and gave the Spartans a 43-29 lead early in the second half, his 15th and final point.
Kohler was also very good at times. His work on the glass early in the second half — with three offensive rebounds in less than two minutes — helped set the tone down the stretch when the Spartans put some distance between themselves and the Buckeyes for the moment. His offensive rebound in traffic while being fouled in the final two minutes helped preserve a road victory. Kohler finished with nine rebounds, including four on the offensive end. His dish off the post against a sharp Coen Carr with 1:03 remaining nearly clinched the victory.
Xavier Booker also had some big moments – including a great drive and early banking shot and pull-up jumper in transition to answer an Ohio State 3-pointer, giving the Spartans a 27-21 lead. It was a great shot of the moment, preventing the Buckeyes from regaining momentum. Booker’s quick pass to Richardson for a layup and a 47-35 MSU lead was the kind of play not every big man feels comfortable making. And his steal and coast-to-coast layup while being fouled put the Spartans back in front 52-50 after briefly losing the lead.
MSU has several of these guys right now. None of them are perfect or complete. But overall, it’s a pretty good crew. When a tandem isn’t working at a given moment, there’s immediately another good option – like when Zapala and Carr were losing the battle on the glass and Kohler and Booker replaced them at a critical moment in the second half. It also allows Carson Cooper to play to his strengths in his role, without his limitations being frustrating.
And then there’s Carr — MSU’s ever-improving, game-changing wing, sometimes the best option at power forward.
The Spartans spent four years trying to figure out their interior positions, particularly at center. They finally did it. This won’t be the reason they fail this season.
3. Coen Carr’s development continues, its impact grows
We’re seeing new sides of Coen Carr’s game night tonight, it seems. He begins to take and make 3s at home for example. But more important is how he impacts the game closer to the rim, with the ball in his hands – and I don’t mean dunks.
Friday night we saw Carr take the ball on the drive and give Jeremy Fears a 3. This play wasn’t there in November, really from any of these guys. Carr showed the ability to put the ball on the floor and finish his move off the glass. He showed a better understanding of when to cut and how to move in the half court. But we hadn’t seen him drive and play like he did against Fears in the first half.
Carr then had another stretch where he was powerful as a rebounder, particularly on the offensive end, including on his own miss. There is so much potential there. We see more and more every game. Physically, he changes this MSU team. His growth is MSU’s growth.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
This article was originally published in the Lansing State Journal: MSU basketball wins at Ohio State and is 3-0 in the Big Ten: 3 quick takes
