Divine Ugochukwu is a prime example of Tom Izzo’s elite development

When Tom Izzo landed Divine Ugochukwu from Miami this past offseason, Michigan State fans were quick to criticize the move.

Obviously some were willing to wait and see just how good the young point guard could be, but the overwhelming consensus was that he would have a minimal role behind Jeremy Fears Jr.

Boy, how wrong most of us were.

Ugochukwu had a slow start to the season, playing no more than 14 minutes in a single game through his first five Spartan outings. He saw 16 minutes in his sixth game against East Carolina, dropping a season-high (at the time) 16 points and shooting 6-for-7 from the floor and 3-for-4 from deep.

He then had quiet games against North Carolina, Iowa, and Duke before breaking out once again on Saturday afternoon for a career-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 5-for-5 from 3-point range.

Saturday’s career performance came during his first start with Michigan State. He was inserted into the starting lineup at the two-guard spot to help with the major void there. And it paid off.

This position change was met with early skepticism, but that was quickly erased after he hit some early shots to provide momentum to a Michigan State team that was clearly off.

He’s a prime example of Izzo’s elite development.Michigan State guard Divine Ugochukwu is a prime example of Tom Izzo’s elite development, contrary to what rival fans say.

Divine Ugochukwu has improved drastically under Tom Izzo

At Miami, Ugochukwu had a rough freshman year with his head coach stepping away and the team completely falling apart. He still averaged 5.3 points and and 2.3 assists while shooting 48 percent from the floor and 17 percent from deep in 16 starts.

It looked like that’s exactly what Michigan State was getting from Ugochukwu through the first five games, but he’s gotten better each outing.

Plus, there’s this impressive stat that Ant Wright found:

Development.

Not only is he a better shooter and overall player in East Lansing this season, but he’s also 10 for his last 12 from 3-point range since seeing his minutes increase. He hit almost the same amount of 3-pointers against Penn State as he did all of last season. That’s just an incredible stat.

It felt like Saturday’s breakout could be a sign of things to come. He seems to have taken over that two-guard role (a-la Tre Holloman), and he’s looking like a knockdown 3-points shooter. Divine is only going to get better, and Izzo deserves a ton of credit.

So next time a rival fan says that Izzo can’t develop players, show them Divine Ugochukwu.