MSU's lack of depth spotlights Tom Izzo's transfer portal stubbornness
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Former starting forward Malik Hall is out with an ankle injury. Starting shooting guard Tyson Walker was battling through a stomach virus. And, starting point guard A.J. Hoggard and starting wing Jaden Akins both got into foul trouble in the first half.
That was a recipe for disaster today when Michigan State traveled to Bloomington for their sixth Big Ten game in 16 days.
“We played 10 minutes without A.J. after he fouls on the three – and that’s not a good foul," head coach Tom Izzo said. "We played eight minutes without Akins, and without Malik Hall that’s just not a good thing. Period."
Not surprisingly, the Spartans fell to Indiana, 82-69, to drop to 13-7 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play.
Michigan State started both the first and second half very well, but Izzo's club did not have the stamina to stick with the Hoosiers in the game's final 16 minutes, and the head coach's stubbornness in regards to the transfer portal was a big reason why.
College basketball seasons are long and unpredictable, but most teams are going to struggle through some adversity like injuries and illness at some point during the season. Izzo has been doing this for too long not to expect those types of challenges at some point during the 2022-23 campaign, and yet he looked as his roster consisting of 10 scholarship players — three of which are freshman — and thought he had enough to work with.
Hall's injury, and the circumstances surrounding Sunday's game against the Hoosiers, indicate that Michigan State does not have nearly enough to compete for a title in the Big Ten Conference.
“We still have no substitution pattern," Izzo admitted following the loss.
A lot of that is due to the fact that Michigan State has had different players available throughout the year. Akins missed roughly eight weeks before the season as he recovered from foot surgery. He then missed four games after tweaking the foot against Villanova.
Hall, meanwhile, came into the season healthy but also dealt with a stress-related injury to his foot following the Villanova game, causing the senior to miss the next eight games. After Hall returned, he turned an ankle in his second game back against Michigan, before exiting his fourth game back against Illinois after either re-aggravating that ankle injury or his foot injury from earlier in the year.
Even Izzo seems uncertain as to what's going on with Hall.
“He’s a little ways away yet. When? I have no idea," Izzo said. "All I can do is support him, and I think some of those [things] are physical, some of them are mental, some of them are complications and some of them are the world right now is different. If you get injured, you’re different. So, I don’t know if he’s injured or hurt. If he’s injured, he’s got to do what he’s got to do. If he’s hurt, then you don’t play.”
With Hall out, Michigan State has had to turn to sophomore wing Pierre Brooks, who has struggled in an increased role thus far. After opening the season shooting pretty well from three-point range, he's made just one of his last 13 attempts from deep and seems to have lost a lot of confidence. Against Indiana, Brooks went 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-3 from three.
“Pierre had some good looks, he just didn’t make them," Izzo said. “We understand that Pierre is going to be limited defensively a little bit, but you hope he can make shots and he’s not making shots. When he’s not doing that – it’s tough. But, he played harder today so there are some things that are encouraging.”
Regardless of "effort-level", which Izzo has noted has been lacking with Brooks often this season, it's pretty clear that the sophomore needs to improve before he's asked to play the kind of minutes the Spartans need without Hall.
This past offseason, there were a couple of wings in the transfer portal that Michigan State could have pursued. Maybe Izzo and the Spartans did put the full-court press on West Virginia small forward Jalen Bridges, or maybe they brought him in for a visit and Izzo decided Michigan State didn't need him.
Regardless of why, Bridges ended up at Baylor and is averaging 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game as a starter for the Bears. MSU sure could use that kind of production right now.
The transfer portal was lighter on center talent this past offseason, but Izzo watched former Spartan big Julius Marble depart the program to move closer to home in the wake of his father's death, and the head coach's response was to extend a scholarship offer to Carson Cooper. The freshman center has been better than expected for the Spartans this season and looks to be ahead of schedule, but MSU could use a more experienced guy to supplement current starting center Mady Sissoko.
But, this is the roster that Izzo brought into the 2022-23 campaign, and it is wearing down two-thirds of the way through the regular season.
“I think the six games in 16 games caught up to us a little bit too, especially guys like Joey, [and] A.J. a little bit," Izzo said on Sunday. "A.J. got a little rest in the first half he still played 27 minutes. But, he was out 10 minutes [in the first half]. That’s what I mean about [needing] rotations, so I don’t play him almost the whole second half.”
For the second game in a row, Izzo trotted out all three of his freshmen on to the court at once for a stretch. At home against Rutgers, it worked out okay. On the road against Indiana, the trio got exposed a bit.
“It was the end of the first half when we had those three freshmen in there. It’s not an easy place to play three freshmen, and I thought they took advantage of us and they got that lead," Izzo said.
Freshman point guard Tre Holloman has played well in a limited role this season, particularly on defense. But he struggled mightily today when he was asked to orchestrate the Spartans' offense with Hoggard on the bench.
“Tre did some uncharacteristic things when we told him what to do, so we didn’t feel as comfortable with him in the second half," Izzo said.
That put even more pressure on Michigan State's backcourt, which was already less than 100 percent with Walker battling through a stomach virus.
“Tyson Walker got sick two nights ago, and didn’t practice or eat," Izzo said. "This morning, we didn’t even think he was going to play at breakfast. And so, I give him a lot of credit, but he hadn’t shot a ball, he hadn’t touched a ball.
“They put [an IV] in his veins last night and today, but we just aren’t deep enough to go through those things...He played as hard as he could play under the circumstances. But that’s what I meant about – we just didn’t have enough guys to do it.”
Perhaps that is the true crime of Izzo's inaction in the transfer portal during the offseason. The Spartans who are available are giving everything they have to their head coach, but they are being forced to play too many minutes with very few options on the bench.
“I know this sounds stupid, but I’m proud of the way we competed under the circumstances," Izzo said. "[Indiana] is playing good, the crowd was great, we didn’t get much time [between games], not having Tyson – we knew we wouldn’t have Malik but we thought we’d have Tyson. And he played, he probably played a lot of minutes, but I’m just telling you he was…I apologized to him three times. We just had no choice.
“We should have put him at the point. Tre was struggling there right before the half, but [Walker] was running on fumes.”
Walker isn't the only one.
Starting forward Joey Hauser is playing more than 35 minutes in every game. He battled his way to 22 points against the Hoosiers, continuing what has been a resurgent season for the graduate senior, but he wore down in the second half. Who wouldn't after playing that minutes in six games in just 16 games?
Izzo laments Hall's injury and talks about Michigan State being in a better place when he comes back and the Spartans are back to full strength. Sure, MSU will be a better basketball team when Hall comes back, but this team had little chance to get through a full season and compete for a conference title using just 10 of their available 13 scholarship slots.
