Michigan State basketball desperately needs Mady Sissoko to figure it out

Mady Sissoko was a revelation in the first few weeks of the season. Michigan State basketball was exceeding expectations against teams like Gonzaga and Kentucky because of the big man’s rapid improvement and Tom Izzo hyping him up in the months leading up to the season seemed to be more than just coachspeak.

Sissoko held his own against Oscar Tshiebwe and Drew Timme and even looked like he outplayed those two All-Americans, at times.

Since then, he’s struggled to get back to that level of play. He averaged 15 points and 8.5 rebounds against Kentucky and Gonzaga but has regressed since. And it’s hurting the Spartans as post production has been mediocre, at best, throughout Big Ten play.

Sissoko had another poor performance on Saturday night, posting a negative plus-minus in 21 minutes and finishing with just for points and two rebounds before fouling out. His defense wasn’t great and he got lost on multiple occasions, leading to easy Michigan buckets.

He needs to figure it out before it’s too late.

Mady Sissoko is critical to Michigan State basketball’s March success

If Michigan State plans on making any sort of noise in the NCAA Tournament this March, Sissoko needs to step his game up drastically. He needs to figure out how to get back to that early-season level of play before the Spartans get to the tournament.

Sissoko has scored in double figures just twice in Big Ten play this year and he’s only grabbed 10-plus rebounds four times. He comes close to fouling out each game and that’s only in 20-25 minutes of action. He just can’t stay on the court for long periods of time because he’s an offensive liability and fouls too much on the other end.

But we’ve seen what he’s capable of. He showed us earlier in the season and it wasn’t just a fluke. He was playing with confidence and had a high basketball IQ in those first few weeks. But for some reason, he’s regressed.

Tom Izzo needs to tap into Sissoko to get that early 2022-23 version back. If he comes back, Michigan State is going to be dangerous in March.