Tom Izzo shares thoughts on Joey Hauser's contributions

Michigan State‘s dominant 62-41 win over Ohio State marked their second straight win and senior forward Joey Hauser‘s second straight game with 20 or more points. Spartans’ head coach Tom Izzo spoke about Hauser’s impact on Sunday’s game, but first spoke about the impact that some of his teammates like AJ Hoggard and Tyson Walker on his performance.

“Well I think he does have confidence and more importantly AJ has confidence in him,” Hauser said. “Tyson Walker was another unsung hero, goes five for nine, gets 10 points, three rebounds … He made a couple assists to Joey, AJ made a couple assists to Joey,”

Hauser led the game with 22 points, adding eight rebounds, two assists, and a block to his night. He’s been the team’s leading rebounding and second-leading scorer so far this season, and his performance Sunday was his sixth 20-plus point scoring outing of the season. He’s been consistent for the Spartans all season, but Izzo believes his recent play has been a product of better health.

“Joey’s playing like the kid I thought he would be when I recruited him in high school. And he’s rebounding tough, his defense is improving, I think he’s fresher. I think that six games took took a lot out of him, I think he’s fresher, he’s got some lift. Ran a couple plays to get him those free line jump shots and he really looked good doing it,” Izzo said.

Hauser has been efficient all season for Michigan State, and throughout his entire career as well. In his four collegiate seasons, in two of them, he’s shot 44% from the field and in the other two of them he’s shot 47% from the field. He’s shot above 40% from three-point range in all but one of his seasons, and this year is celebrating a career-high in scoring averaging 13.3 points per game.

“So a combination of he’s playing better, he’s shooting better, the guys know it and they’re getting him the ball. He still was very efficient, only eight for 13,” Izzo said. “So happy for him, you all know what he’s been through, happy for him.”

Hauser is a part of the Spartans’ three-headed scoring monster comprised of him, Hoggart, and Walker. Each of them are averaging over 12 points per game for Michigan State, and one of them has led the team in scoring in all but two games this season. And with just six games remaining in the regular season, Hauser and company will be leaned on heavily to play their best basketball down the stretch for the Spartans.