4 Michigan State basketball takeaways from Moneyball's night 4

3. Szymon Zapala shows off his range

Another name that has been pretty quiet so far this Moneyball is Szymon Zapala. He is the Spartans' transfer big man this offseason, but unfortunately his addition left a lot of fans (myself included) feeling underwhelmed.

But what he showed us on Thursday is beginning to change that for me.

Zapala can shoot it. And I don’t just mean from the mid-range, he can knock down threes.

On Thursday, Zapala scored 24 points which included four 3-pointers. One or two makes from behind the arc could just be chalked up as a fluke, but four threes in one game isn’t a fluke. It’s a major development.

Similarly to McCulloch, I don’t think Zapala will play much this season. The center spot likely will be dominated by Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler again this year. But if Zapala can shoot it from deep with consistency then he’ll have to get more playing time.

Having a big that can stretch the floor like that is massive for any offense, and right now only Xavier Booker can do that for Michigan State. But maybe, just maybe Zapala can do that as well, which would turn his commitment this offseason into a massive win for Tom Izzo and Michigan State.