Michigan State Basketball: It’s time for Malik Hall to be a starter

With Michigan State basketball struggling as of late, Malik Hall has been red-hot and it’s time for Tom Izzo to make him a starter.

Though the Spartans have been in a slump as of late, there has been one player who has not slowed down at all. That player is Malik Hall.

Hall has quietly been arguably the best player on this team. I say quietly because he has been coming off of the bench practically all year and there is seemingly no reason for this. Especially because the Spartans have a struggling Joey Hauser starting over their best player.

Now, yes, Hauser has been getting a little better after really struggling to start the season but when they have a guy like Malik who is just better at everything, it just does not make sense to hold him back on the bench.

Hall is averaging 10.1 points, five rebounds, and just over one assist per game this season. To go along with those numbers, he’s also shooting 57 percent from the field and over 50 percent from deep (53.5 percent). This is coming from a guy who is coming off the bench every game.

Compared to Hauser, Hall is playing way better basketball. Hauser is only averaging 7.2 points and shooting 42 percent from the field and 36 percent from deep.

Furthermore, Hall is also more athletic than Hauser so I think that would work a lot better to set up open shots on the perimeter on top of working better with a guy like Marcus Bingham Jr. Sometimes when both Hauser and Bingham are in the paint, it gets crowded quickly leading to turnovers which is something Izzo and the Spartans want to correct.

One thing that I like to point out is Hauser and Hall both average about 22.5 minutes a game so why would it matter which started? It matters because if you have Hall starting, you can get the offense rolling a lot faster and have your bench come in and try and maintain a lead or have momentum behind them rather than playing catch up. And relying on Malik to come off the bench to try and fix mistakes made by the starters is tiresome.

Now do I see Izzo making this adjustment? Not really. He seemingly has a lot of faith in Hauser and reasonably so. When Hauser finds his stride and is having a good game, he’s really solid but I still dont think his one good game every five warrants him a spot in the starting five over a player who has been red-hot all season long.