NBA Draft: Michigan State Guard Continues Impressive Debut Season

The Spartan’s freshman has been impressive in his first collegiate season.

Michigan State's Jase Richardson points to the sky after a moment to himself before the game against Nebraska on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In a blowout win over a fellow Big Ten team in Nebraska, Michigan State freshman Jase Richardson continues his impressive debut season.

A four-star combo guard, Richardson wasn’t an exceptionally high profile draft prospect coming into the season, but he’s quickly climbing up the ranks with play that feels somewhat beyond his years.

At 6-foot-3, he’s been able to provide a nice all-around punch for the Spartans, scoring with ease, grabbing a few boards per game and handling some ball-handling duties.

On Saturday, he scored a needed 16 bench points on 5-for-7 shooting, hitting all four of his free throw attempts while adding two rebounds. Michigan State would go on to win, 89-52.

Coming into the game against the Huskers, Richardson had scored 9.6 points on a whopping 62% shooting from the field, not to mention his 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. His performance on Saturday night is sure to help those numbers.

For now, Richardson likely projects to be a late-first rounder in a very good 2025 NBA Draft, but with each game he’s building his resume to go even higher. All it will take is one team to value his broad skillset for him to land in the mid-first round or even higher.

MSU, now 8-2 on the season, next takes on Oakland at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

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