MSU's Richardson Has Turned it up Over Last Two Games

The No. 12 Michigan State Spartans have looked unstoppable when taking the court. Pushing their winning streak to nine games with its win over Northwestern on Sunday, MSU has been on top of both its offensive and defensive game. One of the key contributors in the last two games has been freshman guard Jase Richardson.

Richardson hit a small cold spell in the middle of MSU's winning streak, but over the last two games, he has turned it up and been a huge asset for the Spartans. Averaging 23.5 minutes over his last two games, Coach Tom Izzo hasn't needed to remove Richardson in big moments.

The first game of his breakthrough from his cold streak came against the Washington Huskies on Thursday. In the 88-54 MSU victory, Richardson went 5-8 from the field, drained one of three 3-point shots and collected 12 points in total. He also was reliable on defense, stealing the basketball away from the Huskies five different times.

It has been talked about all season long how the Spartans would need help from their youthful players, and Richardson has done his part on the season so far. Averaging 9.5 points on the season with two assists, two rebounds, and a 46.4 3-Point shot success rate, Richardson pushes Izzo's hand to get him the game.

Proving that his performance against the Huskies wasn't a fluke, Richardson made sure he took command again as the Spartans took down the Northwestern Wildcats by the score of 78-68.

In the victory, Richardson played in 24 minutes of the game, dropped 13 points, had a 50% success rate in both field goal and 3-point shots while obtaining two rebounds and draining four of five free throw shots.

The combination of Richardson and redshirt freshman Jeremy Fears Jr. continues to prove how they can be assets for MSU for years to come. Given the production they have had, both among the team's leading scorers, the future at MSU looks bright.

As the Spartans continue to push and claw for that Big Ten championship, they will have their hands full when they battle the Penn State Nittany Lions on Wednesday.

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