3 things Michigan State basketball must improve on in Spain

Michigan State basketball is one game in to their Spain trip as the Spartans defeated the Madrid All-Stars Thursday afternoon. But don’t get too distracted this offseason because MSU still has two more games coming up on Sunday and Tuesday.

Overall, Michigan State played pretty well considering it was their first game of the season. However, there’s no denying that there is a lot of room for improvement.

So before the team finishes their trip and falls out of the public eye until November, here are three things I hope to see Michigan State improve on over these next two games in Spain.

1. 3-point defense

I’ll never be someone that overreacts to preseason games, especially ones that take place in August, but the group’s 3-point defense was pretty pathetic on Thursday against Madrid.

Teams are always going to make shots and they’ll also make difficult shots at times as well, and if Michigan State’s opponents make contested 3-pointers then you just gotta tip your cap to them. But that wasn’t the case against Madrid.

MSU gave up way too many open looks from three and Madrid more than capatilized on those open looks. Michigan State even fouled a 3-point shooter late in the fourth quarter which is the biggest mental mistake you could probably make at that point in the game.

I’d love to blame all of these open looks Michigan State gave up on early season struggles with defensive rotations. That’s an easy thing to fix and something they’ll figure out with more practice. But the amount of open looks is still concerning and it would be nice to see an improvement on that during their next two games.