Michigan State needs certain players to regain its ability to make three-pointers as it did for much of Big Ten conference play.
The Spartans are a good three-point shooting team for a good portion of the season. Michigan State for example made 239 three-pointers this season and had games this season where they were in the double digits in making threes. In their last regular season Big Ten conference game, they made 12 shots from beyond the arc on 20 attempts at home against Ohio State. On the road against Nebraska, they made 16 threes, at Iowa they made 11 of 15 three-point attempts, and at home against Indiana they made 10 three-point shots from beyond the arc. Two Spartans in particular, need to regain their form against Kansas State to help them advance to the Elite Eight.
Tyson Walker and Joey Hauser need to make at minimum take five three-point attempts against the Wildcats.
Michigan State to their credit had won their two NCAA Tournament games in large part due to their defense and their ability to control the flow of the game. The way the Spartans won their games against USC and Marquette, will be more difficult to duplicate against Kansas State. The Wildcats arguably played in the toughest and most competitive conference this season which is the Big 12.
They have impressive wins for example, in a road victory over Texas where they scored 116 points, and defeated Baylor in which they held them to only 65 points. They have three players who consistently can score in double digits in Keyontae Johnson, Markquis Nowell, and Nae’Qwan Tomlin.
They earned the No. 3 seed for a reason and deservedly so but they don’t have an outstanding defense or a dominant big man like Purdue which had given the Spartans problems on defense. Michigan State needs to spread out the Wildcat’s defense by making timely threes, and the Spartans have two players in Hauser and Walker who can make that happen.
Walker is not a high-volume three-point shooter, but he needs to shoot from beyond the arc more often than he has recently to help the Spartan’s offense thrive against a solid and stable Kansas State defense. Walker in multiple games has been a very effective three-point shooter. On the road against Nebraska, he made three of four attempts, versus Indiana he made five from seven from beyond the arc, and against Rutgers at home, he made three of his five attempts from beyond three-point land.
However, in his last four games, Walker is a combined two for thirteen from beyond the three-point arc. He needs to not pass up wide-open threes and he needs to regain his confidence in his ability to make threes again against Kansas State. Walker has proven that he is an elite three-point shooter and in his home state of New York, he should be able to make a decent amount of his three-point attempts.
Hauser in comparison, is not afraid to take a three-point shot and his making four of his six three-point attempts against USC helped the Spartans to a ten-point victory over the Trojans. However, against Marquette, he was limited to only three attempts and made only one of those attempts and in the Big Ten Tournament he was limited as well going one for three from beyond the arc against the Buckeyes as well.
Hauser needs to be able to shoot more threes as he did against Nebraska when he made six of his eleven three-point attempts and when he made six of nine on the road against Ohio State. Hauser like Walker needs to put up a minimum of five three-point attempts to open up the lane for their teammates like Hoggard and Akins for the Spartans to advance to the Elite Eight.