Michigan State Basketball: Spartans may not be as deep as you think

Much has been made of Michigan State basketball’s depth, but while the Spartans have an abundance of guards, not all of them deserve the minutes they’re getting.

Stats can be misleading. Michigan State leads the nation in percentage of bench minutes played this season, but does that mean anything? Announcers will continue to use the stat because it sounds good, but let’s dive into it some more.

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MSU’s point guards split time between Tum Tum Nairn and Cassius Winston, so there isn’t one true “bench” option between the two. It also can’t be forgotten that Nick Ward came off the bench for the first two months of the season. And of course, Miles Bridges missed seven games, which meant that Matt Van Dyk and Kyle Ahrens were given starts, but were still playing less than 20 minutes per game.

So when someone says that the Spartans are “deep” because they lead the nation in bench minutes and can use 11 players in any given game, that’s not exactly the full story. Again, two of those players are Van Dyk and Ahrens, two 6-foot-5 guys that are being asked to play at the four and five spots. Another one is Kenny Goins, a 6-foot-6 former walk-on that is the team’s back-up center to freshman Nick Ward, who struggles to defend and box out on a nightly basis.

And while a lot of people are pointing to Michigan State’s size as being a major issue, it can’t be ignored how ineffective some of the guards have been, namely Joshua Langford and Matt McQuaid. Langford is averaging 19.9 minutes per game and has started more than half the season. His minutes remain low because he hasn’t acclimated to the college game and it’s noticeable every time he takes the court. As a McDonald’s All-American and top-25 recruit, Langford’s play has been troubling to say the least.

It was most evident in the Michigan game as he played 16 minutes and didn’t take a shot, while also having one of the many bad turnovers in the loss.

The one positive is that Langford can shoot. He’s hitting 46.2 percent of his threes, by far the best percentage on the team. So why has he not taken a three in two of the last three games? Why has he not taken more than four three-pointers in any game this season? It would make sense to set some screens to get him open, a la Bryn Forbes a season ago, but nothing of the sort have been seen.

Next, there is McQuaid, who has maybe been the most disappointing player on the team this season. Averaging a little more than 20 minutes per game, the faults of McQuaid have been at the forefront for a good portion of this season, something that was hard to notice a year ago in a lesser role. Luckily, Tom Izzo noticed this as well and it’s a reason McQuaid hasn’t played more than 16 minutes in four of the last five games. It’s hard to think what could’ve happened in the Arizona game if McQuaid didn’t play 33 minutes.

Labeled a “shooter” and a former SMU decommit, McQuaid has made one trey or less in six of the last seven games. At the beginning of the season, he was letting it fly and took 22 threes in the first three games, although five of his nine makes in that period came against one of the worst teams in the country, Mississippi Valley State. But it’s not just the long ball that isn’t working; McQuaid is shooting a putrid 10-of-34 on two-point field goals. How many times have you seen him try to drive it and miss a contested layup? Probably too many.

But maybe the main reason for McQuaid’s dip in minutes lately has been his defensive play. While he’s still heralded for his defensive work by Izzo (sparingly these days), McQuaid has always had issues trying to defend any player with above average quickness. There’s a reason he only played five minutes against an Indiana team that plays fast. More troubling are his six fouls in the last 25 minutes of game action. It’s been apparent that teams and opposing players know McQuaid can’t keep up on the defensive end. It was only a couple weeks ago that Ohio State’s Kam Williams was seen saying on TV, “He can’t guard me,” after getting a basket against McQuaid.

Remove those two guys and it’s down to six Michigan State players that have shown any kind of consistency. Again, Nairn has been fine, but it’s been made evident over the last few years that he can’t be the best point guard on the team. Winston will eventually take his place, but as seen against Michigan, he’s not fully ready.

I talked about the relevance of Alvin Ellis III earlier this season and he’s surprisingly been one of the few players on the team that can make shots with a hand in his face and take defenders off the dribble. In addition to that, he can play multiple positions including the four. But while Izzo has given him more minutes, Ellis is still averaging less than 20 per game since his breakout when Bridges was out of the lineup.

Eron Harris has been criticized plenty, and rightly so, but again, he’s at least someone that can create shots on his own. The problem is that he hasn’t been doing that nearly enough and it’d be hard to argue if someone said that Izzo stunted Harris’ growth on the offensive end.

The other two left are Ward and Bridges. Ward is a great offensive player, but Izzo hates how he rebounds and plays defense, so his time remains limited. Bridges is a great player, but when he doesn’t attack in the paint, that limits what the offense can do.

Michigan State can be called a deep team because of bench minutes, but the bench is only playing so much because the depleted roster is filtered with young and mediocre talent. The absences of Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter not only created a depth issue at power forward and center, but also a skill issue at guard.

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With how Langford and McQuaid have played, it’d be hard to see either of them getting more than 10 minutes per game if the Spartans had a full roster. Bridges would be able to play a lot more small forward and Ellis would get to play a lot more shooting guard. Instead, both have been pushed up a position and in turn Langford and McQuaid are combining for almost 40 uninspired minutes each game.

So despite what the stats say, Michigan State is not deep, it’s just desperate. The only way for that to change? For Langford and McQuaid to start hitting shots with regularity. Otherwise, the minutes those guys put in will continue to mimic a black hole on the court.