Michigan State Basketball: Recapping Malik Hall’s 2019-20 season

Malik Hall surprised a lot of people with his contributions as a freshman, and he can end up becoming a special Michigan State basketball player.

The Michigan State basketball team had several contributors in a successful season cut short, from obvious stars like Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman to consistent role players like Aaron Henry and Kyle Ahrens. One became a budding star in Rocket Watts.

Tom Izzo had to be happy with the depth on his team this season.

But one player that flew under the radar in terms of his production was freshman forward Malik Hall. A four-star prospect from Wichita, Kan., Hall was overlooked by some as a player who could contribute right away. But at the beginning of the season, Michigan State had a hole at the power forward position.

It was expected that sophomore Marcus Bingham Jr. would fill that spot, but he struggled to maintain consistent play and began to lose minutes. Thomas Kithier, another sophomore, started the first game of the season against Kentucky as well as a few more games early in the season. His play started to become insufficient once Big Ten season rolled around.

Izzo needed someone to consistently contribute at the four, and eventually, that became Hall.

Hall’s numbers don’t jump out, only averaging 4.6 points and 3.7 rebound per game, but his production went beyond the stat sheet. He was scoreless in the first two games of the season off the bench, but broke out against Seton Hall — ironically enough — where he scored 17 points, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, grabbing five rebounds and hitting three big time 3-pointers, one tying, two of them breaking ties against the Pirates in an eventual victory. He also hit a go-ahead layup with 22 second left to put the Spartans up, 74-73.

Hall struggled to replicate this production off the bench for a while, although he did have a good game against Georgia, scoring nine points with four rebounds and throwing down a highlight poster dunk. He also had nine points and eight rebounds against Duke.

Malik was sometimes good for a highlight play, like the aforementioned Georgia dunk. He also threw down a nasty poster dunk against Western Michigan, albeit receiving a technical foul for staring down his victim.

Hall got his first start of the season on the road against Minnesota, scoring seven points and grabbing six boards in a blowout win. He went back to the bench twice against Illinois and Iowa as Izzo was experimenting with lineups after some rough stretches during the season, trying to figure out who to play.

His next big game came on the road in what was arguably the biggest game of the season against Maryland. He scored 16 points with five rebounds while once again going perfect from the field, nailing all five shots he took. Hall did foul out, but the game was virtually in hand at that point.

While he did play like a freshman at times, there were still a good deal of highlights and moments that made you say, “Yeah, that Malik Hall kid is gonna be special.”

Hall’s biggest strength is just that — strength. He stands 6-foot-7 but plays even bigger than that. His game is getting to the basket and finishing strong, with a solid post game for a freshman, as he showed his ability to hit turnaround jumpers as well as being able to hit shots from the free throw line and the elbow. He plays strong on the glass as well, boxing out and drawing fouls. He’s an above average defender, but needs to work on not fouling as much, which he should improve on as he plays more and develops. He also shot an impressive 73 percent from the free throw line, a good number for a freshman big man.

As previously mentioned, one of his weaknesses was foul trouble. He fouled out of four games, while picking up four fouls in three other games. He’s a capable shooter, but not one that teams will prioritize when he’s on the three point line. Malik could stand to tweak his mechanics a bit, as his shot is a bit of a push from the top of his head. He’ll need to become a more consistent deep-ball threat next year for the Spartans, because they are losing good shooters in Winston and Ahrens.

Hall had an overall strong and promising freshman campaign. He showed off strength and athleticism with some crafty scoring, and it left the impression that he’s going to be a tough player in the future. He could be the starting small forward next year if Aaron Henry decides to go pro, about which Henry is still undecided. If Henry does come back, Hall will be competing with incoming transfer Joey Hauser for the starting power forward position.

Wherever he ends up playing, Michigan State fans should be encouraged by his freshman campaign and should be excited about his future as a Spartan, because Malik Hall could end up being a star.