Report: What MSU Must Do to Compensate for Anticipated Weakness

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Aidan Champion | Last updated Jun 3, 2025 2:02 PM ET

Michigan State basketball is still expected to be a Top-25 team despite losing its top three scorers.

The Spartans addressed position needs in the transfer portal and are returning four contributors from last season's Big Ten title and Elite Eight team.

The Athletic placed Michigan State at No. 21 in its latest Top 25 rankings, a fair placement considering the season the Spartans come off and the players that they lost and gained.

But shooting may still be a problem.

Michigan State shot just 31.1% from deep last season, and while its success rate and makes from beyond the arc improved down the stretch of the regular season, it plagued the group come postseason time.

In their last three games of the NCAA Tournament combined, the Spartans made just 17 triples in total and shot 30.4% from range in their Elite Eight meeting with the No. 1 overall seed, Auburn, which hindered their ability to pull off the upset and advance to the Final Four.

The Athletic's CJ Moore still sees perimeter shooting being an area of concern for Michigan State's 2025 season. He believes the Spartans will have to rely on traditional Tom Izzo basketball to make up for it.

"Coen Carr as the starting small forward could cause some spacing issues and make a crummy 3-point shooting team even crummier, but head coach Tom Izzo does not give a damn about your analytics," Moore wrote in the aforementioned ranking. "The Spartans are going to guard and play fast, and we all need more chances to see Carr punishing rims.

"But yeah … the shooting. It’s a worry. Izzo at least addressed it in the portal by grabbing Trey Fort (37.9 percent from 3 at Samford) and Kaleb Glenn (41 percent at Florida Atlantic). I’m not sure I buy Glenn as a 40 percent 3-point shooter, but he deserves credit for drastically improving in that area after going 1 of 9 from deep as a freshman at Louisville.

"Ideally, this team would have been a preseason top-10 outfit led by a sophomore Jase Richardson, but Richardson was too good too fast. Now the Spartans will need to win by guarding, running and playing through the bigs. Old-school Izzo."

Moore projects the Spartans' starting lineup to be Jeremy Fears Jr., Fort, Carr, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper, which I have predicted as well.

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This article first appeared on Michigan State Spartans on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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