Michigan State basketball beats Niagara as Kansas threatens: 3 quick takes

On By Littum

1. Another fine exhibition for MSU. Now it’s time to see what they have.

EAST LANSING – Ready or not, it’s time for this Michigan State basketball team to be tested to handle someone of its own size, to face an opponent with a little more rim protection than Niagara provided Thursday night. Being an underdog.

The Spartans get it all on Tuesday night against Kansas in the Champions Classic in Atlanta.

We’ve learned about everything we can from two exhibitions against Division-II teams and two home games against lower Division-I programs, including Thursday’s 96-60 win over Niagara.

We’ve seen the Spartans have to respond to brave opponents who won’t go away easily. They have done that well. We’ve seen Jaden Akins look like he’s ready to be the main man on the court when needed. We’ve seen Jaxon Kohler grab 21 rebounds in two games and put up 20 points on Thursday, which looks like something MSU will be able to count on. We’ve seen Coen Carr electrify the Breslin Center and be more than a highlight, and Jeremy Fears Jr. dishing out 16 assists with just two turnovers in two games.

Let’s see if we still feel the same way about these guys after Tuesday. This is where we’ll find out if Kohler can bounce back like this against legitimate big men, if Akins can lead a team when the going gets tough.

Nothing that happened this week suggests MSU can’t compete a level up. But convincingly beating Niagara and Monmouth is only so convincing.

2. An important second half for Frankie Fidler

Frankie Fidler seems to be struggling with his confidence early this season. You can see it in the shots he misses and how he attacks the rim. This is a new level for the Omaha transfer. A new city. Many eyes and expectations. So it’s all understandable. But MSU needs him in the right headspace. The Spartans need his play.

To that end, the second half Thursday was an important one for Fidler, who had eight points and two rebounds in seven minutes. I saw him smile for the first time in two games – first when he made a good move, missed the shot, grabbed his own rebound and put it up and back in while being fouled. The free throw gave MSU an early 56-44 lead with 16:32 left. When Fidler checked out of the game, Tom Izzo gave him an emphatic handshake, as if MSU’s coach had been waiting for that kind of energy from Fidler. Later, Fidler buried a 3 in transition from Jase Richardson and his face lit up. Not as much as Richardson’s. But he seemed to be having fun.

MSU doesn’t need Fidler to be Superman. But it is necessary for him to make shots, to return, to be adequate defensively. Being a 6-foot-7 threat on the wing. He showed some of that in the second half on Thursday.

3. Freshman thoughts – Niagara edition (aka the Jase Richardson chapter)

There were a few notable developments on the freshman front Thursday night. First up: Jase Richardson’s continued significant impact, looking like a 20-minute-per-game player. game this year. The last freshman to do that for MSU was Rocket Watts in 2019-20, seemingly a lifetime ago.

It’s not only clear that Richardson is ready for it. It becomes clear that he makes a significant difference when he is on the floor. The proof is partly in the numbers — 4 for 7 shooting for 10 points in 17 minutes Thursday, following a game against Monmouth in which he went 4 of 5 for 10 points with four assists in 22 minutes. But there is more to it than that. When he has the ball in his hands, whether it’s going downhill for the basketball or Thursday, letting it fly from deep, you think something good is going to happen for MSU. Most likely a bucket. It is a feeling that must be earned. He does it.

Tom Izzo said this week that he’s been surprised by Richardson, especially that he’s shooting it better than when they drafted him. But he also sees what we all see: “He is very smooth. Seems to do things effortlessly,” Izzo said this week. “Not a lot of wasted movement in his game. When he walks, he walks with a purpose.”

As with the rest of the team, it will be interesting to see how Richardson responds to the looming step up in the contest — he made fairly open layups a couple of times Thursday after getting past Niagara’s first line of defense. If this continues, there’s a chance Richardson ends up in MSU’s closing lineup at some point this season.

The other development Thursday is that Richardson right now might be the only starter in the rotation. Kur Teng, who played two minutes in the first half Monday and then again in garbage time, didn’t play Thursday until the game was all but put away, with MSU leading 68-51 midway through the second half. At the time, he was playing with Richardson, who ran the point. Redshirt freshman Gehrig Normand, who is coming off a knee injury, didn’t come in until later.

There is an obvious reason: there are too many guards ahead of them and too few minutes to spare. They need someone’s minutes to get into the rotation, though I think Izzo and Co. will look for ways to get them involved as much as is reasonably possible. An opening for one of them could come if MSU is to shoot. Teng hit another triple on Thursday. He has two of MSU’s nine 3s this season in very few minutes played.

Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.