Michigan State Basketball: Joey Hauser is lacking confidence, and that’s a problem

Michigan State basketball has looked solid as a unit ever since the 87-74 loss against Kansas to open the season. Following that loss, the Spartans went out and won their next five games, beating teams such as Western Michigan, Butler, Loyola Chicago, and UConn. But most recently lost a game to No. 6 ranked Baylor to lose in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship.

Though the team as a whole has shown great improvement, there is one player who has been limiting the team’s success because of his struggles. That player is Joey Hauser.

Hauser began this season as a starter for the Spartans but quickly got moved to the bench for Malik Hall. In the six games Hauser has played, he’s averaging 21 minutes, 6.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and is shooting 33 percent from the field this year and 31 percent from the deep. Hauser is a major liability when he is on the floor for the Spartans.

This is very obvious if you’ve watched MSU this year. When Hauser is on the floor, he plays scared. Scared to go inside and try and finish at the hoop which leads to him making poor passes that lead to turnovers. Or, leads to him taking bad shots which leads to easy points on the other end. In addition to his poor offensive production, his defense has been an issue.

The game against Baylor was the final straw for many fans, including myself. In 25 minutes, Hauser had only six points, four rebounds, and an assist in addition to that, he shot 25 percent from the field and missed every 3-pointer he attempted.

This has been the story all year for Hauser. He will be good for six rebounds a game but he will not help the team score. He has only scored more than eight points once so far this year. Which when he averages over 20 minutes is a horrendous line and something that needs to be fixed.

What should Hauser’s role be with Michigan State basketball?

Tom Izzo has tried fixing it by moving him to the bench but that hasn’t done much either, it is time to cut Hauser’s minutes in half and start giving out more minutes to guys like Jaden Akins, Malik Hall, or even walk-on Peter Nwoke. The Spartans have a lot of young talent that would be way more beneficial than what Hauser is doing right now.

Especially when you have guys like Julius Marble and Marcus Bingham who are just as efficient or even more efficient in rebounding and are way more efficient a valuable in offensive production than Hauser. It just doesn’t make sense for Izzo and the Spartans to keep giving so much time to he’s not producing right now.

To end it off, it is time for Hauser to have a significantly smaller role with the team until he snaps out of his slump. Especially with as mentioned before, all the younger talent you have on the team that you need to get more involved if the Spartans and Izzo want to keep having success this season, and playing Hauser will not help you achieve that. He should get maybe 10-12 minutes a game until he shows he deserves more.