After recording another impressive win to improve to 6-0, Michigan State basketball fans are in agreement that this team is better than anyone expected.
OK, maybe Spartan fans expected to contend again, but we’d be lying if we said there wasn’t any doubt about the makeup of the team after losing Jase Richardson, Tre Holloman, and Jaden Akins. Throw in losses of Xavier Booker, Frankie Fidler, and Szymon Zapala, and the team looks completely different than last year’s Big Ten title squad.
However, the Spartans are playing at a high level and everyone seems to be gelling quicker than we thought. Tom Izzo has to be thrilled about the rapid growth of his team from the Colgate opener to Tuesday afternoon’s beatdown of East Carolina.
That 33-point win over East Carolina had some fans wondering if this year’s team is better than last season’s which won the Big Ten by three whole games.
It’s a fair question, and the Spartan dawg mentality is definitely there with this squad, but just how does it compare to last season’s team? It doesn’t feel fair to compare a team through six games to one that ran through the Big Ten and made it to the Elite Eight. The sample size needs to be the same.
So I did a little research.
Let’s compare Michigan State through the first six games this season to last year’s team through the same amount of time. Here are the results:
2025-26 Spartans | 2024-25 Spartans | |
|---|---|---|
Record | 6-0 | 5-1 |
Top 25 wins | 2 | 0 |
Points per game | 80.7 | 81.2 |
Points allowed | 62.2 | 66.2 |
Rebounds | 43.2 | 41.7 |
Assists | 21.2 | 18.7 |
Turnovers | 11.5 | 11.5 |
Steals/Blocks | 13 | 11.5 |
Field goal % | 46.4% | 47.8% |
3-point shooting % | 32.8% | 20% |
Free throw % | 69.9% | 80.9% |
If you don’t recall, last year’s team had a bit of a slow start with a loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic before heading to Maui. It would lose to Memphis in the seventh game of the season, but the six before that provide a good sample size to compare to this year’s team.
As you can see, this year’s team holds an advantage in just about everything but shooting percentage. Last year’s team was a little bit higher scoring, but it also didn’t play as tough of a schedule through six games. The 3-point shooting is better this year already, but the free throw shooting is down considerably.
Still, the defense is better, the team passes the ball more effectively, and the rebounding has cranked it up a notch. The field goal shooting isn’t that much lower, but with the lower field goal percentage, the Spartans make up for it from beyond the arc and with passing, defense, and rebounding.
I’m not sure we can definitively say that this year’s team is better than last year’s, but the numbers show that it’s definitely ahead of schedule.
If this team grows throughout the season like last year’s, it will end up being better.
A better finish would obviously cement that theory.