Tom Izzo opened up about Mady Sissoko’s lack of production and regression recently and said that he’s not giving up on his big man.
Michigan State basketball has been playing extremely well recently. The Spartans have won eight of their last 10 games and are coming off a solid 73-63 rivalry win over Michigan . However, not everyone on the team has been playing well recently. Mady Sissoko has been struggling recently, and everyone has taken notice to it. Tom Izzo has also noticed his decrease in production, and addressed it on Monday with the media.
Izzo talks about Sissoko’s decrease in production
Izzo didn’t hold back when talking about Sissoko, but he’s still keeping an open mind about everything for obvious reasons. He shared that Mady’s recent lack of production “is concerning” and that “he’s not been playing as well” recently.
The stats back this up as well. Mady hasn’t been a big scorer for Michigan State his entire career, but he has failed to score at least five points in eight straight games now. Lack of scoring isn’t that big of a deal from him as long as his defense and rebounding are up to par. But that too has seen a recent decline as Mady has only secured six rebounds once in the last six games.
Izzo isn’t giving up on Sissoko
Izzo also went on later to say “I never just give up on a kid.”
This is the right move for many reasons, the first being the tragedy that struck Sissoko recently. He recently lost his grandmother in the days before MSU’s road game against Wisconsin. He was extremely close to his grandma and is unable to pay his respects during this tough time. That likely could be impacting Sissoko’s play, and something that Izzo touched on as well.
But even with Sissoko’s regression, Izzo is still keeping him in the starting lineup going forward. The team is clearly playing well together right now, so it wouldn’t make sense to mess with their rotations too much. Izzo did share that Mady is getting fewer minutes, but he will never be someone who gets benched completely.
I hope that we see Sissoko turn it around. Obviously that would help the team out, but I know it would likely help him out internally. Who knows what internal struggles he’s going through right now, so an increase in play could help him more than any of us realize.
Sissoko’s next chance to improve his play is Tuesday at home against Iowa. I know I’m not alone in hoping that he starts playing better soon.
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