V-Cast: plenty of unanswered questions for Michigan State after lackluster showing against Ferris St.
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State closed out the exhibition basketball season with an uninspired 85-67 win over Division 2 opponent Ferris State on Tuesday night. Now the Spartans return to the practice gym in preparation for their November 5 regular-season opener against Monmouth.
After Michigan State’s win over Ferris St., SpartanMag staffers Jim Comparoni and Paul Konyndyk checked in from courtside at the Breslin Center with news, notes, and analysis in the latest V-Cast.
V-CAST TOPICS
Jaden Akins: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has touted Akins a potential go-to scorer for the Spartans this season, but the senior guard has yet to show that he is capable being the guy with the ball in his hands at the end of the clock that can get his team a tough basket. In this game, Akins scored just two points on a tip-in early in the game. Michigan State needs more offense from Akins than he gave them against Ferris St. Given that streakiness has been an issue for Akins throughout his career, it appears increasingly unlikely that he will be able to fill that lead guard role for this team. Don’t
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Not gritty enough: We’ve heard all off-season about the growth that Xavier Booker has shown from last year to this. Against Ferris St., however, Booker looked too much like the freshman version of himself. Booker was one of three players in double figures for the Spartans in their second exhibition game along with leading scorer Frankie Fidler (14 points), and fellow sophomore Coen Carr (12), but this was a disappointing overall performance for the sophomore forward given that he failed to measure up to program standards for effort. Booker isn’t the only Spartan that played too soft against Ferris St. There were a handful of moments in this game where Fidler didn’t play with the physicality necessary to win at a Big Ten program. Fidler has the skillset to be Michigan State’s leading scorer this season provided he plays with more effort on defense and in rebounding the basketball.
Carr and Kohler save the day: Against a small Ferris St. frontline, the tandem of Coen Carr at the four and Jaxon Kohler at the five made the biggest impact. Kohler did a nice job scoring around the basket and clearing rebounds for Michigan State in a game he came up one point short of a double double. Carr meanwhile was a electric in transition, and he was also impressive driving to the basket in the halfcourt.
