Michigan State basketball's big problem? Finding consistency from bigs

EAST LANSING – To listen to Dan Hurley, his visit to Breslin Center was like Tom Izzo’s trips to all the other basketball Meccas.

The Connecticut coach even said something few others in his profession would dare utter about an opponent.

“We root for Michigan State when they’re playing,” Hurley said after his fifth-ranked Huskies knocked off Izzo’s No. 6 Spartans on Tuesday. “I mean, we got the ultimate respect.”

But Hurley knows a thing or two about what it takes to win a national title. He’s got one more than Izzo – winning it all back-to-back in 2023 and 2024 – and played for another in April after knocking the Spartans out of the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16.

“I just think that they have everything you need to be a national championship contender,” Hurley added. “It’s just right now, they gotta figure out that center spot.”

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Jeremy Fears Jr. is a known commodity and showed it in MSU’s 78-70 loss to UConn on Tuesday. The returning All-America point guard and national player of the year candiate scored 18 of his game-high 23 ponts and dished out six of his eight assists in the second half despite delivering a scare when he fell early in the second half and had to leave the game.

But the triumvirate of Anton Bonke, Jesse McCulloch and Ethan Taylor were the biggest discussion points after the Spartans failed to exact revenge for losing to the national runner-up Huskies in both the postseason and exhibition play last season. They combined for 15 points and 10 rebounds but battled inconsistencies at both ends of the court Tuesday night.

“Yeah, we're a work in-progress at the center position,” Izzo said. “But I think we've gotta do some different things coaching-wise for it, too. And a few things different offensively that would help them.”

Bonke started MSU’s second straight exhibition game but played just six first-half minutes, scoring one put-back basket and grabbing three rebounds with a turnover. The 7-foot-2 senior transfer did not play after halftime and left the locker room without speaking to reporters (Fears, who was receiving treatment from the Spartans’ training staff, also did not speak in the locker room).

“Some of the reasons were he just didn't seem as ready to play on a couple of things, but it wasn't all his fault, too,” Izzo said of Bonke. “There's no clarity yet because we're one game and a half in. The clarity will come probably five games, seven games from now.”

McCulloch came off the bench Tuesday after scoring 20 points with five rebounds in MSU’s win over Incarnate Word to open exhibition play on Oct. 2. the 6-11 third-year sophomore scored eight points on 4-for-5 shooting with four boards in 16 minutes off the bench against UConn.

“We just gotta be the consistent group on the team,” said McCulloch, who averaged 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.5 minutes per game last season behind Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper. “I feel like last year, the center and power forward were consistent. And we gotta be that rock of this team. That’s what the center position really is. So we just gotta find that and get into a rhythm and just be consistent in doing everything the coaching staff wants from us.”

Perhaps the surprise of the night was the flashes shown by Taylor, a freshman who was a five-star recruit many felt might be more of a project. His 7-2, 252-pound frame withstood the physicality the Huskies exerted with 6-11 Na’jai Hines and Oskar Giltay, with Taylor hitting a pair of low-post buckets and scoring five points all in the second half. He played eight of his 11 minutes after halftime.

“It’s just getting everybody reps at the 5-spot,” said Taylor, who had two rebounds. “Me, Anton and Jesse, I feel like all of us can be good weapons, so that’s why they’re rotating us all. Some of are gonna have good nights sometimes, and some of us are gonna have bad nights. So that’s why we have three good guys we can turn to.”

Izzo also used undersized lineups with 6-9 forward Cam Ward at center after the sophomore forward missed the Incarnate Word game while recovering from a September ankle injury. Ward started at power forward next to Bonke and finished with four points and six rebounds in 24 minutes.

“We didn’t respond well to them just punching at us first,” Ward said. “The physicality was definitely theirs all game. I just felt like they kind of out-physicaled us on a lot of the key things that we’re always great at.”