Michigan State basketball might be even better than Tom Izzo thought they could be

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EAST LANSING – Jeremy Fears Jr. continues to push the pace and provide toughness for Michigan State basketball.

Coen Carr’s highlight reel keeps getting bigger and more diverse.

The gap between Xavier Booker’s potential and ceiling grows closer with each passing game and week.

The blossoming of those three members of Tom Izzo’s 2023 recruiting class has No. 19 Michigan State surging to close out 2024. And its those second-year Spartans who very well might hold the key to another deep run in March.

“I honestly think we got a lot of room to improve,” Fears said after MSU’s 86-69 win over Florida Atlantic on Dec. 21. “Obviously, we’re winning games and we find a way, and I think we show good stretches of what we can be. I just think game by game, day by day, understanding each other, the game, the flow, that we can just get a lot better.”

Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr., left, slaps hands with Xavier Booker during player introductions before the game against Monmouth on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

MSU (10-2) hosts Western Michigan (3-8) on Monday afternoon to close out the calendar year and nonconference play for the season. Tipoff is 3 p.m. at Breslin Center (BTN).

When the final horn sounds, it’s Big Ten play the rest of the way, starting Friday on the road at Ohio State. And the development of sophomores Booker and Carr along with starting point guard Fears, a redshirt freshman after missing most of last year because of a gunshot wound, has Izzo peeking toward what he expects to be a competitive conference race in which the Spartans are already off to a 2-0 start.

“I said we’d know something after Christmas (about) how we are. Well, it’s getting near that time,” Izzo said after practice Saturday. “I’m not lying, I think we’re getting to be pretty good. But I still don’t know, because I see 10 to 12 teams in Big Ten alone that I don’t know if we’re better than or worse than. I really don’t. But I think everybody’s having…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-state-basketball-might-even-111143868.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-12-30 11:11:00

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