Thirteen games into the 2025-26 season, Tom Izzo is still trying to figure out Michigan State’s minutes distribution.
Izzo has a problem at his two-guard spot: he has one starting spot available, and there are 3-4 guys who are vying for it. Unfortunately, the guy who has won the job, as of right now, is also the team’s backup point guard. That’s taking backup point guard minutes away from him and giving it to the Spartans’ third option at the position: Denham Wojcik.
And that’s a problem as we enter Big Ten play.
While Wojcik is a solid third option at point guard, he shouldn’t be playing 10-plus minutes per game for a top-10 team in the country. He can come in for 2-3 minutes to spell Jeremy Fears Jr. or Divine Ugochukwu, but he should be there in case of emergency — and in blowouts.
The problem here? Izzo believes that he should be playing 5-10 minutes, or more, per game for Michigan State. He, and Doug Wojcik, may be the only ones who believe that.
Spartan fans have been begging for fewer Wojcik minutes because the offense seems a little disjointed (not so much against Cornell) and the defense falls off a bit.
Fans aren’t going to be thrilled with what Izzo had to say after the Cornell win.
Tom Izzo praised Denham Wojcik’s play vs. Cornell
In Izzo’s post-game press conference, he touched on a lot of things from the fans to his defense to Wojcik playing meaningful minutes right before conference play resumes.
”I think it’s worked out pretty good.”
Those words are going to haunt Michigan State fans if having a questionable backup point guard option leads to a loss or two in conference play. Every single game matters in Big Ten play, so Wojcik cannot be making the same mistakes he’s made against the Oaklands and Toledos of the sport.
Wojcik has played 10-plus minutes in two of the past three games, and while he did have 10 assists against Cornell and Toledo combined, he’s still turnover prone (six in the past four games) and he doesn’t play defense at a high enough level.
If Wojcik is playing 10-plus minutes per game in the Big Ten, I may be worried.