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Michigan State Basketball: Can Spartans be fixed before it’s too late?

By Connor Muldowney

Michigan State's Joey Hauser, right, celebrates with Malik Hall, after Hall was fouled on a dunkduring the second half of the game against Rutgers on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.210105 Msu Rutgers 168a
Michigan State's Joey Hauser, right, celebrates with Malik Hall, after Hall was fouled on a dunkduring the second half of the game against Rutgers on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.210105 Msu Rutgers 168a /
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Michigan State Spartans forward Joey Hauser drives against Purdue Boilermakers forward Mason Gillis during the first half at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021.Msu Purdue
Michigan State Spartans forward Joey Hauser drives against Purdue Boilermakers forward Mason Gillis during the first half at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021.Msu Purdue /

Get Joey Hauser and Rocket Watts going

There are two guys that have been in somewhat of a slump over the past few weeks and that’s holding the entire team back.

Joey Hauser, who’s in his first eligible year with the Spartans, and Rocket Watts have been ice-cold for the past couple of weeks and that’s really been a road-block for getting the team back on track. Both have looked shaky on the offensive end and we saw Joey Hauser getting bullied in the post on defense against Trevion Williams of Purdue on Friday.

But on offense, Hauser has the potential to be an elite scorer. He dropped 27 against Wisconsin back on Dec. 25 and that was a career-high which should have been a huge confidence-booster. Since then, he has just 29 points in four games and hasn’t broken double-digits in the scoring column in that span. Moreover, he hasn’t shot better than 43 percent in any game since. Not good.

As for Rocket, he has kind of struggled all season. He was expected to take that next step with Cassius Winston gone and not only has he conceded the starting point guard spot, but he has been coming off the bench and hasn’t found his stroke nor his confidence. He’s averaging just 9.7 points per game and is shooting a mere 36 percent from the floor.

Those two aren’t cutting it right now and it’s time to get them going.

When these two guys score in double figures in the same game, Michigan State is really tough to beat. In fact, the Spartans are 4-0 when that happens. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened since Dec. 6 against Western Michigan. Time to change that.

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