Tyson Walker, Tre Holloman and Michigan State basketball's guards key to Spartans' success

EAST LANSING — Tom Izzo believes Tyson Walker is playing at a Big Ten player of the year pace.

Tre Holloman continues to contribute at an elite level as perhaps the surprise of the season.

Izzo’s next steps are to shore up A.J. Hoggard’s recent ball protection issues and push Jaden Akins to keep improve on crashing the boards and running on the break. Because the Hall of Fame coach understands Michigan State basketball’s mission to recalibrate its course rests largely on what its guards can do over the next two months.

“When it's all said and done, with all the statistical things,” Izzo said Tuesday, “the better we defend, the better we rebound — which we've done a better job in the last two games — and the better we run, then the better team we'll be. Sounds pretty simple to me.”

The Spartans (10-7, 2-4 Big Ten) look to build on Sunday’s second-half masterpiece on Thursday night when they face Minnesota (12-5, 3-3) for the first time on the court since Jan. 12, 2022. Last year’s only game, a meeting at Breslin Center that was scheduled for two days after the Feb. 13 mass shooting on MSU’s campus, got postponed and eventually was canceled.

NOT JUST EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE: MSU in search of consistency, but that means more than just scoring

Tipoff between the Spartans and Gophers is 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Breslin (FS1).

It is a matchup very familiar to Holloman, even though this is the first time he gets to face his hometown team.

The Minneapolis native picked MSU over his the alma mater of his mother, Crystal, who played basketball at Minnesota from 1989-94. She went on to become a girls hoops coach around the Twin Cities. And Tre said he knows a number of the Gophers’ players on coach Ben Johnson’s roster from Holloman’s time as a basketball and football star at Cretin-Derham Hall High in St. Paul.

His two-sport days are done, and the 6-foot-2, 180-pound sophomore combo guard has emerged this season as a vital piece for Izzo’s backcourt rotation — even more so with the indefinite loss of freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr.

Entering Wednesday's games, Holloman’s 5.7 assist-to-turnover ratio — 57 helpers to 10 giveaways — is the best among the 350 Division I players who are ranked. Hoggard is tied for 83rd nationally at 2.39 (86 assists to 36 turnovers).

“I'm really proud of Tre, I think if you talk about a guy who's taken a major step. And I think he's got a lot more steps he can still take,” Izzo said. “That's a pretty impressive stat, though, when you're a guard — and a guard without a lot of experience. To have the poise to do that, I think speaks volumes for him.”

For the year, Holloman is averaging 5.8 points, 3.4 assists and 1.4 rebounds in 19.9 minutes. In the Spartans' six Big Ten games this season, Holloman has 19 assists to just two turnovers.

He tied a season high with 27 minutes in Sunday's 73-55 win over Rutgers, hitting three 3-pointers for his nine points while dishing out six assists with no turnovers. It was his ninth time this season without a giveaway, and Holloman has committed just 21 on the season.

“I think it's just making the right play and then not trying to like make a flashy play,” Holloman said after practice Tuesday. “I have to just keep on playing defense and then keep on just taking care of the ball and knocking down my open shots. And I think my roll will be bigger.”

Since Fears was sidelined after being shot Dec. 23, Holloman started spending more time back at the point behind Hoggard. In the five games without Fears, Holloman has handed out 19 assists to just three turnovers in 23 minutes a game.

If anything has dipped with his shifting roles, it has been Holloman's dead-eye deep shooting. He still leads the Spartans at 41.3% from 3-point range and went 3-for-6 against Rutgers after missing all six of his shots beyond the arc in MSU’s previous four games.

“He's back to being on the ball more, so he's just back to being who he is,” Walker said of Holloman. “Tre's always passed the ball and can do that. But this year, he came in as being a scorer off the bench. But now, he's just going back to what he can really do.”

As for Walker, whose 19.9 points per game leads the Spartans and ranks tied for third in the Big Ten, Izzo said the 6-1, 185-pound guard is having “an MVP candidate” season. Unseating Zach Edey — the reigning conference and national player of the year — might be a tall task for the Walker with the numbers the 7-4 Purdue star is again posting (22.9 points, 11.1 rebounds are both tops in the Big Ten). But Walker said it was among his reasons to return to MSU for a fifth collegiate season.

“I just don't talk about it, but it's always a goal,” Walker said. “You gotta win some games, and I feel like I'm definitely one of those guys who can get it.”

Walker is tied for eighth in the Big Ten making 48.2% of his shots overall and has improved his 3-point accuracy to 39.3% after a brutal first month. He was 8-for-37 (29.6%) from deep in November and has made 43.5% in the past 10 games in December and January.

“I think he can do it so many different ways,” Izzo said. “I think he's improved his shooting some. He's improved his passing a lot. I don't think since his injury, he's playing as good defensively. And when I said that to him, he kind of agreed. He's good — I need him to be great.”

Izzo raved about how steadily Hoggard has been playing over the past month-plus but also pointed to issues in recent games with missing layups and not taking care of the ball as well as he had, particularly in last week’s loss at No. 10 Illinois and in the first half Sunday against the Scarlet Knights. Still, the 6-4 senior is posting 11.4 points and 5.1 assists per game in 26.6 minutes on the season.

And like Walker, Akins shook off his early 3-point shooting slump and has made 46.5% from outside over his last seven games. The 6-4 wing also has had to shift some responsibilities to shooting guard with Fears out and has started to improve his rebounding tenacity, grabbing 4.2 per game now to go with his 10.8 points. Akins has 15 rebounds the past five games, including eight on the offensive glass.

Walker, Hoggard, Akins and Holloman combine to score 60.6% of MSU's 77.1 points per game this season. They also are the keys to the Spartans’ defense holding opponents to just 65.5 points and a Big Ten-best 30.3% from 3-point range.

Minnesota has lost two straight, an 86-77 home loss to Iowa on Monday and by 12 at Indiana on Friday, that ended a seven-game win streak. The Gophers' strength is in their post players, with 6-11 forward Dawson Garcia posting 17.4 points and 7.4 rebounds and coming off 30 points against the Hawkeyes. Joshua Ola-Joseph averages 11 points a game. Big man Pharrel Payne (back) will be game-time decisions for the Gophers, Johnson told reporters Wednesday.

Still, the Gophers possess improved talent on the perimeter. Elijah Hawkins, a 5-11 junior point guard, leads the nation with 132 assists and adds 8.1 points but is a game-time decision with an ankle injury, Johnson said. Cam Christie, a 6-6 freshman and the brother of former MSU and current Lakers guard Max Christie, posts 10.5 points and has worked his way into the starting group. And 6-2 shooting guard and Pepperdine transfer Mike Mitchell Jr. averages 10.2 points.

“I think this team is the best Minnesota team I've seen in years,” Izzo said.

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

Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

Next up: Golden Gophers

Matchup: Michigan State (10-7, 2-4 Big Ten) vs. Minnesota (12-4, 3-2).

Tipoff: 6:30 p.m. Thursday; Breslin Center, East Lansing.

TV/radio: FS1; WJR-AM (760).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball: Tyson Walker, Tre Holloman guiding guards