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No need to panic about Jaden Akins' lackluster performance vs. Madrid

By Connor Muldowney

Michigan State and Team Motorcars' Jaden Akins looks on in the game against Team Tri-Star Trust on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, during the Moneyball Pro-Am at Holt High School.
Michigan State and Team Motorcars' Jaden Akins looks on in the game against Team Tri-Star Trust on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, during the Moneyball Pro-Am at Holt High School. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
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It's been quite the week for Michigan State basketball and its fans. The Spartans took to Spain for an international trip and while the team is sightseeing and getting cool gifts from football clubs overseas, there's still some business to take care of.

The Spartans are planning three exhibition games while in Spain and the first was already played on Thursday as they took down the Madrid All-Stars, 94-87.

The next game isn't until Sunday and there's sure to be another stream (likely on Michigan State's IG account again) and it'll be another chance for fans to see what this 2024-25 team will look like.

One of the presumed leaders of the 2024-25 team needs a major bounce-back performance after a nightmarish showing in the first exhibition. That presumed leader is Jaden Akins and he finished the Madrid game with just one points on 0-for-11 shooting and 0-for-6 from deep. He was just not on his game and was the Spartans' lowest scorer during the game not named Szymon Zapala.

Fans who were watching the game or even peeked at the box score after the contest were worried about his showing. He just didn't look like he wanted to be there.

But there's truly no reason to panic.

What would be more worrisome would be if Akins was off and stopped shooting completely or if he had this off-game and Michigan State was unable to score or it lost because of it. Neither of those things happened as he had just one point and the Spartans still scored 94. Plus, they were able to put the game away late on the back of heroics from Jeremy Fears and Frankie Fidler. Akins, while he will be needed during the season, was picked up by his teammates and wasn't quite needed.

This will be the worst performance we'll see from Akins probably all year and it's good that he got it out of his system in the first game of an international trip.

Akins will be just fine, he just needs to see one drop and the scoreboard will light up. That's what happens when you're a streaky shooter.

Hopefully, however, he transitions into a more consistent shooter. But his will to shoot wasn't broken by the mini slump he experienced in the first game and that's a good sign.

Oh, and Michigan State has multiple scorers.

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