Solving Elite UM Frontcourt Massive Key for Michigan State
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The blend of size and skill of Michigan's starting three, four, and five men is something Michigan State probably won't see in any other opponent.
UM's Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., and Aday Mara are as good a trio as it gets there. Standing at 6-foot-9, 6-foot-9, and 7-foot-3, respectively, they can take away a lot of different things. The Wolverines (28-2 overall, 18-1 Big Ten) have the second-best defense in the country, according to KenPom, and are ranked third overall in the AP Poll.
No. 8 Michigan State (25-5 overall, 15-4 Big Ten) is going to have to try to figure out how to score against that Big (literally) Three inside. The Spartans already struggled a bit during the first meeting against Michigan, shooting 48.6% from inside the arc during UM's 83-71 win in East Lansing on Jan. 30.
It's just one of eight games this season where MSU didn't make at least half of their two-point shots.
That type of number is commonplace for the Wolverines. Michigan's opponents for the entire season have shot just 43.9% inside the arc. That's the fourth-best mark in the entire country and the second-best mark in a high-major conference. The number is boosted a bit from non-conference play, but the 47.4% mark allowed on twos during Big Ten play is still the best in the conference.
How MSU Can Combat It
Something Michigan State could try is to... not try. Well, kinda. Trying to get Jaxon Kohler or Carson Cooper a bunch of post touches against Lendeborg, Johnson, or Mara would not serve MSU's offense. To some level, the Spartans would be wise to embrace and acknowledge that trying to brute-force their way through that frontcourt isn't a great idea.
Why? Michigan State likes to shoot mid-range jumpers a lot; much more so than other teams. KenPom also tracks two-point shot distance, and it says that MSU's average shot from inside the arc is from 7.4 feet away from the basket.
That's the 17th-highest number in college basketball, with the only high-major teams ahead of the Spartans being Houston (second), Ole Miss (fourth), Rutgers (fifth), and UCLA (sixth).
Michigan is also perfectly content forcing teams to take longer twos. Its defense forces opponents to take their average two-point shot from 7.5 feet away, which is second in the country (Coastal Carolina).
Mid-Range Needs to be Utilized for Spartans
This means that players like Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr, and Kur Teng, and Cooper, who probably take the most mid-range shots on the team, are going to have to knock down some of those shots from the elbow or from 15 feet away or so. The path towards victory for Michigan State in this one is thin; this is something it's going to have to do to walk out of Crisler happy.
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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