3 Concerns for Michigan State Entering March Madness Prep
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The next game is the only one that's guaranteed now for Michigan State.
MSU is now officially out of do-overs. The Spartans (25-7 overall) will learn where they land in the NCAA Tournament bracket on Sunday evening, but they're going to head into March Madness as the losers of two in a row. Their latest defeat was to UCLA in its first game of the postseason during the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Teams that have been one-and-done in the conference tourney have made the Final Four before. Tom Izzo has had three teams do that, actually (2001, 2005, 2010). It's not enough reason to make a bunch of emotional, declarative statements.
Things do need to change, though. Deep runs in March are the expectation at Michigan State that Izzo has set. MSU's coach has made the second weekend of the NCAA tourney more times in his career (16) than he has not (14). There are a few valid concerns, though:
Defensive Slump
One safe thing to say is that Michigan State has been giving up a lot more points than it is used to since the calendar flipped to March. According to analytics site Torvik, MSU's defense has actually ranked all the way down at 192nd in the country since March 1.
Now, there definitely aren't 191 teams in college hoops better at defense, and part of that number could be the four-game sample size, but the recent point totals have been troubling. Rutgers scored 87, Michigan scored 90, and UCLA scored 88. That's the type of number that can get the Spartans bumped out early of the national tournament if it doesn't get solved this week in practice.
The offense has picked up the slack a bit --- Torvik also has Michigan State's offense at eighth in the country this month --- but MSU isn't exactly used to being an offensive-minded team. Izzo's three pillars that he brings up a lot are "defend, rebound, and run." Defense comes first in East Lansing, and that's not how it's going at the moment.
"I do not think we've been defending as well, even when we've won games..." Izzo said on Friday night. "I think, you know, you want to start to become an offensive team, and we've just got to get back to who we are and who we've been most of the year."
Scott Hitting a Wall
Jordan Scott is a difference-maker on this year's team as a freshman. There is a reason he's now in the starting lineup and generally getting about 30 minutes per game when he's not in foul trouble.
He brings a three-point shot that has gone down 41.3% of the time since New Year's, as well as a lot of length at 6-foot-8, to the Spartans' backcourt that comes with the willingness to take on some very tough defensive assignments.
It has been a tough handful of games for the talented freshman, though. After having a six-game streak where he scored at least 10 points, Scott has been held to single-digits in five straight contests now, averaging 5.2 points and having more turnovers (10) than made field goals (8) over that stretch.
Michigan State is going to need more out of Scott in "The Big Dance." Part of the harm of only playing one Big Ten Tournament, though, is that Scott has only gotten one game to see what postseason basketball is like. A second or a third game would have been a nice additional experience for him.
Non-Fears Minutes
This is going to continue being a concern until the end. The loss of Divine Ugochukwu for the rest of the season to a foot injury has left MSU without a reliable backup point guard. Jeremy Fears Jr. is one of the most indispensable players in college basketball, but he's also a human who needs a quick stint on the bench to breathe sometimes.
That means Denham Wojcik goes on the court. It's certainly not the ideal situation, but it might be the best the Spartans can do. Izzo experimented on Friday with a lineup that had Scott at point guard --- it got out-scored 6-0 over 75 seconds.
We'll see if that non-Fears, non-Wojcik lineup pops up again in March Madness. No matter what, though, when Fears goes off the court, everyone is just going to be hoping that MSU survives that one- or two-minute stretch without taking too much water.
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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