Michigan State basketball laid an egg on Tuesday night, dropping a game to Iowa inside of the Breslin Center, 78-71. The game proved to be a major disappointment for Spartan fans, with the team snapping a 3-game winning streak, and ultimately looked uninspired on the court.
The loss doesn’t end their season, or prove to be a huge blow to NCAA Tournament hopes, but it is one that will frustrate everyone involved with the program.
Albeit a loss, there is still something to take away from the game, and still something for MSU fans to look forward to:
1. They are who they are
They did it again, to myself included. The team made people believe they were finally turning a corner and turning up the heat on the 2023-24 season.
Unfortunately, they proved something else, that they are who they are. This is a team that is going to lack consistency, and lose games they probably shouldn’t. It is an any given night team, and on any given night, they could beat the best team in the nation or lose to the worst team in the nation.
Honestly, they will probably win a couple more, and lose a couple more, before the conclusion of this 2023-24 season.
2. Jaden Akins is the X factor
There has been a lot of talk this year about the center position, about A.J. Hoggard and about Malik Hall being X factors on this team, but I think something showed itself, again, in Tuesday’s loss.
Jaden Akins is the X factor on this roster. When he is on, he is the team’s best shooter and best perimeter defender. When he is off, it is darn ugly, and he was off on Tuesday night.
The performance MSU gets from Akins night in and night out will determine what this team is going to do.
3. The Freshman
It has been the nth week in a row that we had heard that Tom Izzo was “going to get more minutes for the freshman” and once again, Coen Carr and Xavier Booker went into the game, had great stints, and never saw the floor again.
Tom Izzo’s lineup problems are a mystery in itself, but the continual promise of freshman minutes, only to not go through with it, while fans have to watch two center lineups hit the floor, is maddening.
At some point, there needs to be something tangible with the freshman, one way or another.
