Tom Izzo updates health status for Tyson Walker, Malik Hall
After grinding through six games in 16 days, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo was glad his team was able to take a day off on Monday before beginning preparations to host Iowa this coming Thursday.
That stretch would have been difficult for a fully-healthy Spartans team, but without senior forward Malik Hall for a little over half of that stretch Michigan State was running on fumes by the time they headed to Indiana this past Sunday.
“His experience, his ability to guard [every position]. He’s just our most versatile guy," Izzo said about what MSU misses most with Hall out.
"You can lose a shooter, and you’ve got to make up for it. Point guards are harder to make up for. You can lose a center and make up for it. But, when you lose versatility, and you’ve got a team where he really can play [the] 2-3-4 [positions], that’s something that we’ve had to grind through. And to try to grind through it in that six games in 16 games – to be 3-3, to go through what we went through, I’m not satisfied but not disappointed either.”
Michigan State had added adversity on Sunday against the Hoosiers when senior guard Tyson Walker contracted a stomach virus two days before the game. Izzo said that Walker did not eat for two or three days, but the senior is on his way back to full health.
“Tyson, I think, is back [to] 90 percent," Izzo said. "He’s good. It’s just a little weakness from the two, three days when he didn’t eat. But he started to eat yesterday, so that was encouraging and hopefully he’ll get back today in practice.”
Izzo said he believes his team is "in a pretty good spot as far as our health goes", noting that sophomore guard Jaden Akins is back to 100 percent for the first time all season.
Yet, Hall remains a question mark for the Spartans as Big Ten play continues on. Izzo noted that the timeline for Hall's return remains murky, because of the nature of his injury.
“When something is broken, you can say, ‘Okay, it’s eight weeks to 10 weeks’ and then we’re good to go," Izzo said. "With this injury, it’s not broken but it’s been different. So, the only thing we can do on it is we can get medical advice, and we can get X-rays, MRI’s…and then figure out that it still comes down to, ‘How does he feel?’"
Izzo was hopeful that Hall would be able to participate in practice in a limited role on Tuesday, but wasn't certain for how long.
Michigan State has been without Hall in 11 out of 20 games this season, which has forced younger players to play an increased role in his absence.
“There’s no question that Malik Hall is penciled in to play 30 minutes per game, minimum. So that’s 30 minutes you have to find from other guys," Izzo said.
"I’m hoping Pierre still gets better on some things. I’ve been really pleased that our two bigs [Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper] are getting better. I’ve been pretty well pleased that Tre [Holloman] has done a better job. I think if there’s a guy that deserves more time, because he’ll guard, he’ll push, he’ll run the team, it should be him.”
In order for Michigan State to reach its full potential in 2022-23, it needs Hall to be back healthy. That being said, perhaps an even more important factor would be how Hall's return would lighten the load on the rest of the Spartans' roster.
"Him coming back would be exciting to me because it would help Joey [Hauser], I think it would help our young freshman, I think it would help A.J. and Jaden and the rest of the guys," Izzo said.
"The other guy that we’re playing to death, and maybe that’s why he got run down, Joey and Tyson have played the most minutes in the grueling schedule and I think just kind of wore them down. So, I worry about Joey a little bit too and Malik could help that a lot.”
