The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, against the Lip'sCUM Bisons
The Good:
Jaidyn Coon - this looks like a dood that MSU gets. The play-style was highly reminiscent of Aaron White. 12 pts, 6 rebs, 5/8 fg, 0 TO. highly efficient. He also looked very solid on defense including a ridiculous block. He'll likely get slowed down when athleticism of opposing forwards increases. But really surprising and promising.
Cooper Koch - solid. Didn't do much, but what he did was good. 3/4 from three. 4 rebounds, albeit in 31 minutes. Needs to improve. only 1 TO in those minutes. Pretty good. He will need to assert himself. We didn't really see the evolution of his game we've been hoping for. To have success he needs to be more than a spot up shooter. With that said he's a great, maybe elite, spot up 3 point shooter.
Trevin Jirak - looked good on offense. At times he really facilitated the offense and it seemed like things were flowing through him productively. 6 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assts, 0 TO. Was one of three hawks to make a 3 pointer. Got burned on D a few times though, which needs to improve.
Joey Matteoni - you guys hate him but he actually played well. I believe this is his 3rd year. 6 pts, 4 rebs, 2 steals, 0 TOs in 10 minutes. He even threw in a block. That's pretty efficient and more productive than many others.
Ty'Reek Coleman - not great but i guess qualifies as 'good'. 10 points, 6 rebs, 4 assts, 2 TOs. 3/9 shooting though. and he actually played more minutes than Combs. The potential is obvious. But his 3 point shooting did NOT look good. he threw up some bricks.
The Bad:
Isaia Howard - only 13 minutes played. Unproductive in that time. Plays solid to good-ish D. Though way too many dumb fouls. 2 pts, 3 rebs in 13 minutes is just not enough. Took one 3 and missed it. Looked a lot like last year. His shot comes out so fast, just not a soft shot. I've long maintained if he could sort his 3 point shooting he could be an all-conference type player as he has great athleticism. But as-is, he's almost a liability on offense. he should be a plus defender but he fouls so much that he's also a liability there sometimes. I still think he can turn it around if he can shoot 30%+ from 3.
Kale Combs - Disappointing outcome. 7 pts, 5 assts, but 3 TOs. 0/2 from 3. 2/5 overall. Two of his turnovers were really bad where he picked up the ball at half court, way out, and the weirdly good Lipcum guard/merc hire picked his pocket on back to back possessions. Combs could be a competent 'game manager' type qb/pg. But he needs to not have those lapses and he needs to establish his place in the offense. I think this will take time but it too will come as the offense rounds out.
Tate Sage - People love this guy but he did not play all that well. 3/8 overall and 0/4 from 3. 2 rebs and 2 steals. 5 fouls. fouled out. Had a couple nice plays. We know what he's capable of. But this game was not emblematic of the jump we all hope for.
Cam Manyawu - kind of is what he is. Tough to watch this performance from a 4th year guy and say it was 'good'. only played 12 minutes. 7 points, 3 rebs, 1 TO in that time. No blocks. Objectively less productive than Matteoni. Good depth guy and frankly won't be surprised if he starts because i think his D is underrated. But this wasn't a good outing.
The Ugly:
Peyton McCollum - i mean he came in, had a steal, and scored some points. 8 points. on 3/8 shooting. 2/7 from 3. Took more shots from 3 than anyone else, by far. nobody else took more than 4. This wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't the coach's son. Since he is the coach's son, this is a train wreck unfolding in front of our eyes. If there's one way to lose the fan base, playing this dood and having him chuck shots is the one way to possibly do it.
Trey Thompson - looks like a FranMac recruit. Seems too skinny to play defense. IDK. Had a rebound in 5 minutes. Keep in mind age-wise this guy should be a first year guy, this year. lots of doods can shoot good. Nothing he did really seemed all that bad but this overall situation is ugly as it irks the fanbase terribly. I get it though. Dood doesn't seem good enough to play.
Ethan Harris - same story here. I don't get why people assume he'd be a bigtime player/minutes guy this year. also looks like a franmac recruit and the clips i've seen = the dood just cant play D. amplified by the fact it looks like he's asked to play guard. seems doubtful to work.