EAST LANSING – Under the brightest spotlights – on national television, at the basketball Mecca, Madison Square Garden – Jase Richardson and Coen Carr showed out.
In doing so, they showed why Michigan State keeps winning. And why Tom Izzo can’t predict just how much more production remains with the potential for continued growth from his burgeoning young stars.
“Have we hit our ceiling yet? No, I don’t even think we’re close,” Izzo said during his weekly news conference Monday. “Can we get there? That’s everybody’s dream. But we aren’t maxing out.”
The seventh-ranked Spartans (17-2, 8-0 Big Ten) are looking to win their 13th straight game Tuesday when Minnesota (11-9, 3-6) visits Breslin Center. Tipoff is 8 p.m., and the game is only available through Peacock.
MSU’s balance once again was on display in Saturday’s 81-74 win over the Scarlet Knights. Richardson, a freshman combo guard, scored a season-high 20 points to lead the Spartans, while sophomore Carr delivered a few highlight dunks, two of MSU’s eight blocked shots, a career high-tying eight rebounds and 14 points while showing off his all-around growth and talent on an NBA court.
The in-season development of those two potential pros has elevated expectations for MSU. They are a big reason the Spartans got 50 points, 24 rebounds and seven assists against Rutgers from their bench players, which Izzo has termed a second starting five.
“I feel like I gotta provide energy off the bench when I come play,” Richardson, who averages 9.8 points with 2.6 boards and 1.8 assists a game, said in New York. “So if it comes to scoring, it comes to defending, it comes to play-making, I try to help the team. And today, it was scoring, so I felt great.”
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The versatility of Richardson being able to play both guard spots and Carr shifting between the forward spots has allowed Izzo to use a variety of combinations to counter opponents. Sometimes that means matching up defensively to shut them down, sometimes it means creating a mismatch to put pressure on other teams to try and stop MSU.
And it has worked to great effect. The Spartans’ 38.4 bench points per game rank second in the nation. MSU leads Big Ten play at 83.1 points scored while ranking second by allowing 68.1 through eight conference games.
“We’ve been doing that from the jump, being able to experiment with different lineups,” said Carr, who is up to 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds a game while adding 15 blocks and 11 steals. “We say our strength is in numbers, so everybody’s ready to play – whatever they need to play, whenever they need to play.”
Izzo said getting increased production from those two roommates, along with improved play for longer stretches from Xavier Booker, are ways MSU can begin to approach its ceiling. The sophomore forward had nine points, four rebounds and four blocks in 17 minutes Saturday.
“I think (Carr and Richardson) have continuously gotten better throughout the whole year, and we just gotta keep getting the ball in their hands in different ways. And they’ve got to continue to be aggressive. I thought both were more aggressive in the last game,” Izzo said. “And then Book, he has stretches – the stretches are getting more often in practice, they’re getting more often in the game. … I think he’s a big key right now of us moving forward. To become a great team, he’s one of the keys. But his process has been a little slower than you’d like, I’d like and he’d like.
“And yet as long as he’s progressing – and he is progressing. I’m kind of proud of him the way he’s handled it, even though half the time I want more, want more, want more. I gotta tell you, I’m gonna keep wanting more, because I think he has more to give.”
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The Spartans have had eight of their 10 rotation regulars lead them in scoring at least once, with seven of them averaging between 7.9 and 13.9 points a game. Seven different players have had game highs in rebounds, while all four guards have had at least one game as the assist leader.
“We’ve been consistent that somebody stepped up. We haven’t been consistent at the same guys are always stepping up,” Izzo said. “And so it’s not comforting all the time, but it’s appreciated how they’ve kind of done that.”
The Gophers – who were winless over their first six Big Ten games, including a 90-72 MSU road win Dec. 4 in Minneapolis – also arrive on a hot streak. Minnesota has won three straight, knocking off previously ranked Michigan in overtime and winning at Iowa before stunning No. 18 Oregon on Saturday, 77-69.
Gophers star Dawson Garcia was named Big Ten player of the week Monday after scoring 31 points against the Ducks and 20 against the Hawkeyes. Since dropping a hard-earned 18 points on just 5-for-14 shooting in the earlier loss to MSU, the 6-foot-11 forward has posted 20.4 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting 51.4% over the past 10 games since.
Izzo said center Carson Cooper tweaked his ankle against Rutgers but was back practicing Sunday. The plan to defend Garcia will be to use waves of the Spartans’ post depth – Cooper, Booker, Jaxon Kohler and potentially Carr – to try and once again slow down Garcia.
“I think we will guard him by committee. We’ll throw different people at him,” Izzo said. “But he’s a lot different guarding now than he was two months ago, in my humble opinion.”
Prediction
MSU 80, Minnesota 68: Making things uncomfortable for Garcia and the Gophers’ guards will be a priority, much like those were the keys in the first meeting. Expect a bounce-back game from Jeremy Fears Jr., and the Spartans will put Izzo one win away from tying Bob Knight’s record of 353 regular-season Big Ten victories.
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. A the 20-game regular season nd catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
Matchup: No. 7 Michigan State (17-2, 8-0 Big Ten) vs. Minnesota (11-9, 3-6).
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Tuesday; Breslin Center, East Lansing.
TV/radio: Peacock (online only, no broadcast TV); WJR-AM (760).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball prediction vs Minnesota: 13 in a row for MSU?
