Michigan State Basketball: Marcus Bingham Jr. is Spartans’ unsung hero

Following a late-season surge, it’s never been clearer that Marcus Bingham Jr. deserves more recognition for being Michigan State basketball’s unsung hero.

Out of pure necessity, Aaron Henry has evolved into the true alpha dog that Michigan State needed him to be in the wake of Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman graduating and moving on to the NBA. He’s the undisputed leader of Izzo’s pack. He does it all for the Spartans on both ends of the court.

Josh Langford has become the Robin to Aaron Henry’s Batman with his leadership and silky smooth jumper.

Joey Hauser, Rocket Watts and Gabe Brown have all been very effective during a select number of games. Those three can score the basketball in bunches and when they’re productive, it takes some of the pressure off of Henry’s shoulders and lightens Langford’s workload, too.

Throughout Michigan State’s NCAA Tournament-clinching run, an unsung hero has made a tremendous impact on the outcome of some major victories recently. Marcus Bingham Jr. has emerged from the shadows to become a reliable interior force.

Since the surge began with a win at Indiana, Bingham Jr. has played as consistently as he ever has in a Spartan uniform.

Julius Marble’s defensive effort is poor (he also fouls too often), Mady Sissoko is still wet behind the ears and Thomas Kithier is not necessarily a difference maker when he’s out on the floor. Bingham Jr. has answered the bell and had a hand in helping Michigan State string together five important wins since Feb. 20.

Bingham Jr. has been active on the glass, rebounding the ball extremely well. He’s putting his 7-foot-4 inch wingspan to good use. His length is disruptive and it has caused the altering of a ton of opponent shot attempts. His strong rebounds and blocked shots have been known to trigger fast-breaks and fire up the team. His inside scoring has been a pleasantly surprising contribution late this winter.

While Michigan State has rattled off a handful of NCAA tournament resume-boosting wins in the past two weeks, Bingham Jr. has been phenomenal. He’s finally morphing into the player the Spartan faithful envisioned him to be as a highly-touted recruit coming out of the prep ranks.

Michigan State’s spectacular stretch has seen Bingham Jr. average 6.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game on 65 percent shooting from the field.

Bingham Jr. was fantastic in February. He needs to be a monster in March.