Should we be worried about Msu?
Sparty came into the 2023-24 season ranked #4 in the preseason AP Poll, and opened up at home in an expected buy game to James Madison where they were 16.5 point favorites. And well, things didn’t go as planned for Tom Izzo in the home opener of his 28th year as Michigan State head coach.
MSU lost 79-76 in overtime to JMU at home in a lackluster all-around performance. This was the first time since Kentucky in 2001 where an AP top 5 ranked team lost their season opener at home to an unranked opponent, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. On top of that, Izzo lost to his own nephew, Matt Bucklin, who is an assistant coach on JMU’s staff.
Michigan State completely deserved to lose this game. There was absolutely no consistency, and really most of the guys didn’t look ready to play at all.
The only reason this team had a chance to compete was because of Tyson Walker. The senior guard did whatever he could to keep his squad in it, behind a 35 point, 5 rebound, 3 assist, and 6 steal performance on Monday night. Not to mention he played 39 minutes, and I assume Izzo didn’t plan on playing Walker almost the entirety of the game leading up to tip-off.
Besides Walker, the Spartans were an absolute dumpster fire. The team shot an abysmal 1-20 from 3-point range, and shot 30% from the field besides Walker.
The interior game for Michigan State is what worries me the most going forward. Given the experience of AJ Hoggard and the game we know he has, and the flashes Coen Carr has shown in exhibitions gives me enough confidence they will be fine going forward. But, the big men on this team really need to step it up.
5-star freshman center Xavier Booker only played 5 minutes, and did practically nothing in his time on the floor. The main guys down low were Mady Sissoko and Carson Cooper, who played 21 minutes and 17 minutes respectively. The two looked just absolutely lost at times. Sissoko racked up 4 points and 4 rebounds, and Cooper didn’t even attempt a single shot all night.
TJ Bickerstaff, starting 5 man for the Dukes, ran circles around Sparty’s centers with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Defensively, this team had no chemistry and communication was non-existent a lot of the time. There were too many scenarios of ball-watching, no communication with switches, and allowing JMU cutters free paths to the basket.
Obviously, it’s just the first game and MSU has the entire rest of the season to figure these issues out. Let’s just hope this team has the potential we thought they did in the preseason, and this preseason top-5 AP ranking wasn’t an example of pure recency bias.
*all statistics taken from espn.com*
