Michigan State Basketball: Why Spartans are the No. 1 team in the country
By Ryan Kay
3. Emerging freshman
The emergence of freshmen Aaron Henry and Gabe Brown has really helped out the Spartans especially with injuries to key Ahrens, McQuaid, and Joshua Langford. Even though Henry is just averaging just over 5 points a game, his nearly 17 minutes per game which he is giving and his defense are really benefitting the Spartans.
Brown’s season averages are not eye-popping by any stretch of the imagination but on the road at Nebraska and Penn State, he played 21 minutes each of those games. He is slowly gaining the trust of Izzo and as the season progresses, he could be a factor in the Spartan’s post regular season success moving forward. Even fellow freshmen Foster Loyer and Thomas Kithier have made contributions this season. Loyer, for example, played 11 minutes at Penn State giving Winston some rest and he scores 7 points that game. Kithier against Maryland with Ward on the bench with foul trouble, even though he only played 5 minutes scored 4 points with 2 rebounds.
Then the most highly ranked freshmen with the biggest ceiling are Marcus Bingham Jr. He is 6-11 but is five for 11 from 3 point land for the season. He doesn’t play much but you can see his potential and as the season goes on, he may be called upon to contribute when needed. The freshmen of Michigan State are not like previous freshmen of years past but they all know their roles and have contributed when needed and have only helped the Spartans succeed as opposed to being a liability.