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V-Cast: what we learned about Michigan State in early November win over talented and well-coached Arkansas

On3 imageby: Paul Konyndyk2 hours agoPKonyndyk
VCast - Arkansas

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State passed its first major non-conference basketball test with 69-66 win over No. 14 Arkansas at the Breslin Center on Saturday night. Although the Spartans were far from perfect in this game, Tom Izzo’s team showed defensive growth. The Spartans also received significant contributions from Coen Carr as well as both of his true freshmen.

Afterward, SpartanMag staffers Jim Comparoni and Paul Konyndyk checked in from the Breslin Center with the latest V-Cast.

V-CAST TOPICS

Lessons Learned: Between a trickier than normal exhibition schedule, and a season opener against a well-coached Colgate team that presented some unique challenges including a driving point guard with plus quickness, Michigan State had the benefit of learning from tough lessons before facing an Arkansas team with the talent to match any program on its schedule this season. Getting punched in the mouth by a UConn team hellbent on playing more physically than the Spartans more than adequately prepared the Spartans to face John Calipari’s Razorbacks. And struggling to prevent dribble penetration against Colgate likely motivated Michigan State to put in the work required to better handle a dribble drive motion team in Arkansas.

 Fantastic Freshmen: Michigan State freshmen Jordan Scott and Cam Ward have been labeled OKG’s (Our Kind of Guys) by head coach Tom Izzo. Both have shown themselves to be high effort players that are willing to do the dirty work required to win games. Against Arkansas the tandem of Spartan freshmen were impact players for Michigan State. Ward led the Spartans in scoring and rebounding with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double double at the college level. Scott, meanwhile, made several hustle plays in a game where he led Michigan State shooting guards in minutes.

Growth needed: Michigan State took some solid steps in the right direction with its win over Arkansas, but there remains plenty of work to be done. One of the biggest areas of need for the Spartans is back-up point guard, where Spartans need to get functional play from Miami (FL) transfer Divine Ugochukwu, who has done some good things in practice, but has struggled to carry practice over into games. The Spartans need more from Ugochukwu so they can keep starting point guard Jeremy Fears fresh. Fears played a little short of 35 minutes against Arkansas. And while some might not deem that excessive, it is worth mentioning that a 35-minute workload against a team like Arkansas is more taxing than a 35-minute workload against a team that plays at slower tempo, especially when Michigan State asks so much from its point guards.

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