Michigan State drilling down on Kohler and Sissoko, what they've learned and what's next

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler made a big, much-needed splash on offense during Wednesday’s victory at Penn State, but head coach Tom Izzo was even more encouraged by the things Kohler did on defense. 

Kohler, a true freshman center, came to Michigan State as a prolific scorer at the high school and grassroots level. Many of his moves and counters have played well thus far for Michigan State in practice and sometimes in games. His orientation on the defensive side of the ball has been a slower process. But he made some strides against Penn State. 

“He can always score some big baskets,” Izzo said. “It was the other things he did – being up on ball screens – and the things that he hasn’t been able to do real well yet that I was impressed with, with Jaxon. I mean Jaxson Kohler played really well at Penn State in what he did, really well, his coverages and everything.”

Izzo said his team was “dead tired” and in “quicksand” in the early stages of the Penn State game. But Kohler came up big to help Michigan State fight off the ropes.

Down 16-6, Kohler hit a face-up 16-footer off an inside pivot, and a righty hook to cut it to 16-10. 

Then Kohler delivered a beautiful righty hook off a drop step move and counter, which cut what had been a 21-12 deficit to 21-17 with 7:40 left in the half. 

Later, after establishing himself as a scorer, Kohler delivered an inside-out assist to Jaden Akins for a 3-pointer which cut the lead to 25-24. 

Michigan State fed the post often in the first half, more than the Spartans have done in recent games, and more than they did in the second half. 

“They were switching four,” Izzo said of Penn State. “We thought their weakness was inside. He (Kohler) did a very good job in there, scored some big baskets.”

How big was Kohler’s contribution in the first half?

“Big,” Izzo said. “Big.”

But there’s a caveat.

“Mady (Sissoko) is the guy that I’m a little worried about right now,” Izzo continued. 

Izzo spent some extra film time with Sissoko during Michigan State’s day away from live practice on Thursday.

“What we did (Thursday) is we went back and looked at the Kentucky, Gonzaga and Villanova games and then we looked at (the Penn State) game and the game before,” Izzo said.

What did they see?

“He can run like a deer but he is running like a turtle,” Izzo said. 

Lost in Sissoko’s strong finish in the double-overtime victory over Kentucky on Nov. 15 is the fact that the big man logged 33 minutes. They seemed like tireless minutes. Juxtapose that against the way Marcus Bingham used to get gassed after two or three minutes on the court, and Sissoko was looking like an athletic, aerobic marvel.

But that didn’t last long. Not only are opponents aware of Sissoko’s dangerousness on screen-and-roll lobs, but Sissoko also fell prone to the rigors of MSU’s early-season schedule. 

“I don’t want to make too much more out of blaming me for the schedule, because I am the only one we should blame, but the effect that I think it had – now that it’s over – was more than I thought,” Izzo said. “I do think it was not just the number of games, and the injuries didn’t help, and the 11,000 miles of travel.

“I do think we were dead tired. I can say that now because that stretch is over. But I couldn’t have changed it. TV moved some games. There were so many things, but it was different. It wasn’t the games that we played, it was when we played them and the lack of practice time that really affected this team.

“The first eight minutes of that game, I kept saying to my staff, ‘We’re in quicksand.’ It was worse than Notre Dame and that’s when I realized I probably did some damage to my team with the number of games in that short period of time.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MICHIGAN STATE?

Michigan State isn’t getting much rest prior to Saturday’s game against Brown (4:30 p.m/BTN). So don’t look for big shots of energy boost from players like Sissoko overnight. Complete recuperation won’t begin until after Saturday.

In the meantime, Michigan State assistant coach Doug Wojcik says Sissoko has learned a lot in the early portions of this season.

“Mady is an unbelievably innocent, humble person so I don’t think he has ever lost that,” Wojcik said. “But when you play as well as he did in that Gonzaga game and you’ve had that kind of impact, and then the Kentucky game, well (you learn that) every game is different. 

“How many different types of games we’ve played already – different styles, playing small. Against Penn State, we went the last six and a half minutes of the game playing small because we had to.

“For Mady, we are not always going to be able to screen and roll to the rim and throw it up and have him dunk. So I think it’s him understanding that it’s different every night. Even for him at Penn State, it was different for him from one half to the second half. So I think he is growing into that by understanding that no two games are alike.”

That made sense to Sissoko, and other players on the roster. 

“Those nine games that he got, he learned a lot,” Wojcik said. “Those games that Jaden Akins didn’t get, even though Jaden played more last year, he didn’t play the minutes he is playing now. So we need him to get that same kind of experience that Mady has gotten, learn from it and then go from there.”

Akins looked quicker and fresher against Penn State than he did against Northwestern on Sunday, when he was making his return after missing four games due to an aggravated ankle injury.

Akins scored 7 points while going 2-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. He had six rebounds and a steal.

“He made big progress compared to the game before,” Izzo said of Akins. “He really needs to get in great shape. There is nothing you can do to get there except work out every day, and that’s coming. 

“The shot is coming back. And then the feel, that’s the last thing that will come back because he hasn’t played for 11 out of those 13 weeks. 

“Getting him back will help.”