A few games ago, Tom Izzo decided to switch things up in his starting lineup. He moved Kur Teng back to the bench, cut Trey Fort’s minutes drastically, and promoted Divine Ugochukwu to Michigan State’s starting five.
It wasn’t as much a promotion as it was a position change to address the deficiencies at the two-guard spot, but many saw it as an opportunity for Ugochukwu to prove what he could do.
In his first start, Ugochukwu scored a career-high 23 points and looked confident as ever, leading the way in Michigan State’s second Big Ten win. He was the hero during that road game, and it looked like Izzo’s move was genius. He addressed the issues at the two while adding a scoring touch to the bench in Teng with Fort as a third option.
What this move also did, however, was promote Denham Wojcik to the backup point guard spot, and he looked fairly overwhelmed in his first extended action against Penn State.
Since, he’s settled in a bit, but Ugochukwu has disappeared. He’s scored just two points over the past two games combined, and he has two rebounds and no assists. It almost looks like the idea of switching positions has set in, and he’s no longer comfortable.
While that’s probably not the case, the fact that Wojcik is playing meaningful minutes at the point guard spot in Big Ten games is not ideal.
For that reason, I think it’s time Izzo moves Ugochukwu back to the backup point role.
This doesn’t mean a minutes reduction for Divine Ugochukwu
This is by no means me saying that Ugochukwu can’t handle the starting two-guard spot. I think the last two games have been an anomaly and extreme outliers, but it’s clear that the offense takes a drastic step back when Wojcik is in the game against the opponent’s starters.
I do think Wojcik is a solid third point guard option. He can give you 5-7 decent minutes, but it has to be in the right situation. He isn’t big enough to guard some of the bigger guards in the Big Ten.
Ugochukwu, on the other hand, is.
Even if that means Ugochukwu has to handle the ball more, I think him spelling Jeremy Fears Jr. first rather than Wojcik would be a positive. Plus, Ugochukwu can still play two-guard if Fears is playing 30-plus minutes per game. He’d only need to play a few minutes at point and maybe Wojcik can give a few, too.
This team is too good to put a liability like Wojcik on the floor for 10-plus minutes in Big Ten games. He’s going to be just fine as the third point guard, but Ugochukwu has to be the backup option.
Ugochukwu can still play a majority of his minutes at the two and spell Kur Teng early on.