Michigan State basketball in search of consistency, but that means more than just scoring

EAST LANSING — The euphoria of Steven Izzo’s exclamation-point first basket in a much-needed win began to subside. His proud father took stock in that accomplishment, while also keeping in mind that a lot of basketball remains in front of Michigan State.

Particularly because of the predicament in which the Spartans put themselves over the past month-plus of up-and-down play.

“We’re still not as consistent,” Izzo said after Sunday’s 73-55 comeback against Rutgers. “But to win a game when our two best shooters didn’t shoot it real well, I think speaks volumes for us, too. That we won it the old-fashioned way.”

After a long week on the road — falling by 14 at Northwestern and by three to No. 10 Illinois — the sometimes-disjointed pieces reassembled at the right time for the Spartans (10-7, 2-4) against the Scarlet Knights. Even as leading scorer Tyson Walker and point guard A.J. Hoggard combined to make just six of 18 shots, finishing with 20 points between them.

A dunk and a three-point play by Malik Hall — whose play has been among the most erratic in veering between exceptional and brutal in recent weeks — helped spark a 19-0 pull-away run. He finished with 15 points, six rebounds and two assists.

“He’s been a lot better. He looked so much more aggressive, didn’t he?” Izzo said of Hall. “He was the one guy that first half (who) was aggressive, and he made a couple man-moves at the end. It’s funny, because I’ve hardly even mentioned him, and he was the best player on the floor for us. But why I think I hardly mentioned him for is I kind of expect that out of him. If he could get consistent, it changes our team.”

When Hall has been good, so has MSU.

The 6-foot-8 senior averaged 14.2 points and 5.2 rebounds over the past five games, scoring 14 or more in four of those contests. The outlier? A 0-point, 0-rebound, 25-minute dud in the loss at Northwestern. Hall followed it with a stronger showing in the loss at Illinois with 14 points and seven boards with three assists, then turned in another impactful game Sunday.

“There's a lot of ways that you can impact the game of basketball,” said Hall, who's averaging 10.8 points and 4.7 rebounds for the season. “Stats, everybody pays attention to, but they aren't the end-all, be-all. Those don't make you a good basketball player or not a good basketball player. Every game might be a little different. Sometimes shots aren't gonna go in. I can get exactly what I want, I get every single look — I could shoot 4-for-20. But I still have to do other things to help my team win.

“So I think when we talk about being aggressive, yeah, I gotta be aggressive score the ball, but I also have to be aggressive in other terms. Go get rebounds, I have to be aggressive on defense.”

The Spartans’ big second-half scoring spurt, coupled with an elite 7:02 of defensive dominance in holding Rutgers without a field goal, featured the type of contributions at both ends of the floor that Hall pointed to by a number of players Izzo has sought improved performance and production.

Izzo highlighted sophomore center Carson Cooper’s screen to free up Hall for the dunk against Rutgers’ zone defense that got the run going as a key play that wouldn’t show up on a stat sheet. Walker followed Hall’s five points to start the run with his third 3-pointer of the game. Tre Holloman continued his steady play with another 3-pointer that forced Scarlet Knights coach Steve Pikiell to call timeout with 11:57 to play and MSU on an 11-point run.

During that pause in play, Izzo emphatically looked back at the recent past for how the Spartans squandered an six-point lead at almost the same point in the game four days earlier in their 71-68 loss to the Illini.

“Some people look at that and say, ‘Why you bringing up bad stuff?’” Izzo explained. “Well, I am who I am, and it is who I am. That’s the elephant that’s sitting in the room. And I’ve always been a big believer that you better address the elephant, because there’s a lot of people outside addressing the elephant that have no clue how big the elephant is.”

Immediately out of the timeout, Rutgers guard Jamichael Davis took off after getting the ball back after his inbound pass and dribbled the length of the court, right into the middle of the MSU defense. Cooper slid over, held his ground and took a hard charging foul on Davis.

Izzo said he told new football coach Jonathan Smith in the Spartans’ locker room after the game that Cooper took “a linebacker hit” in taking the charge.

“He just stood there. That guy went 100 mph from one end to the other, and (Cooper) took it right in the chest,” Izzo said. “That was a big play. Not many guys that I’ve had that would do that.”

After another stoppage following the charge, Holloman delivered a shovel pass to Cooper for a two-handed dunk between two defenders to keep the run going. Jaden Akins drained his third 3-pointer of the game, then freshman Coen Carr converted a three-point play after grabbing an offensive rebound from his own miss to complete the big run. All while MSU’s defense continued to stifle Rutgers.

“This was a must-win. And then the next one Thursday is a must-win,” said Holloman, who had nine points and six assists. “We just gotta go on a little streak right now so we can move up, so we can keep improving.”

Izzo also saw another play that won’t be on any stat sheet, one he hopes will carry over into that next one Thursday, at Breslin Center again against Minnesota (6:30 p.m./FS1), and the coming weeks.

With 6 minutes to play, after the Scarlet Knights ended their scoring drought and got back within 13, Walker poked away the ball and crashed to the floor battling Rutgers’ Austin Williams for it. As it rolled away from them down the sideline in front of MSU’s bench, sophomore center Jaxon Kohler – in just his third game back from a foot injury, less than a minute after scoring his first bucket of the season – raced down the court alongside Davis, dove headfirst and tried to bat the ball off the opponent.

Even though the ball rolled through Davis’ legs and went back to the Scarlet Knights, Kohler showed the type of all-out-attacking Izzo knows his team needs more often and from more players.

“Tyson getting on the floor, Jaxon getting on the floor, those are effort-related plays that nobody appreciates except the coach,” Izzo said. “Effort is a skill nowadays, effort is a skill. We do not look at that enough. Even though I was pleased with some guys, those effort-related things, especially the things that Carson did today, make it special.”

Izzo in his experience also realizes that if his Spartans want to claw back into contention for a higher seed to the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, that effort simply isn’t just enough. But he also admitted seeing it Sunday was “a step in the right direction.”

“We all know our backs are against the wall,” he said. “But in my career, my back has been against the wall more than a couple times. Sometimes, you really find out about people when your backs are against the wall.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball getting deep lesson on what's 'consistency'