EAST LANSING >> The men’s season begins with a home game against Monmouth Monday at 7 p.m. The women’s team hosts Oakland at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Effort, more than talent, to decide Izzo’s starters

Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo said there could be lineup changes for his Spartans following a lackluster exhibition against Ferris State.

Thursday, he met with six players to talk about a variety of topics, including a couple players who need to make “big improvements” to be in the starting lineup.

Part of that decision will come from the players’ performances, and who exactly plays to their role and skill set. But an even greater emphasis will be on effort — not just talent. Offensive rebounds, running lanes, guarding with a hand up, stepping up on screens and setting them on the scoring side are all areas he’s paying attention to.

“What I look for as much as anything right now is how are they grading out on the effort?” Izzo said Friday.

“Because it’s hard to always measure the final outcome on skill-related things. So this year, we’re really putting a lot on effort-related things.”

In Izzo’s eyes, effort is both a choice and a skill.

And while that’s one of the many changes in today’s athletes that he laments, he’s rewarding those who make the right choice on effort.

The Spartans are doing their best to track day-today effort, keeping statistics in practice and putting the results in clear view on a big screen inside the auxiliary gym they practice in.

The numbers don’t lie, and they hold players accountable.

“It’s competitive practices every day, very physical practices,” forward Xavier Booker said Friday.

“Takes a lot of mental toughness. We get after it every day, and that’s what coach wants.”

Confidence key for Akins following poor outing

Shooting guard Jaden Akins didn’t find the hottest start to his senior season in Tuesday’s exhibition.

He finished the game shooting 1-for-5, with two turnovers to offset two steals.

For a player who will play a big role in where Michigan State goes this season, it was a worrisome start.

The key for Akins to turn the page is confidence, an asset worth its weight in gold on the basketball court. If he wants to make his poor night a blip and not a trend, belief is of the utmost importance.

This confidence — as well as pressure — is something he and Izzo discussed in a meeting this week.

“It’s just basketball,” Akins said. “I just can’t get too caught up in missing a couple shots.”

As Akins sees it, he has to be a little bit aggressive in finding the right shots and then firing them with confidence.

He had similar struggles to start last season, including a 2-for-10 rate in last year’s season-opening loss to upstart James Madison.

If there’s anything in which to take solace, it’s the way that Akins has been here before and still put together a strong season.

Even if he’s shooting poorly, Akins’ impact extends a little further than just putting up shots. He’s a strong contributor on the glass, hauling in five rebounds Tuesday night — two of which were those effort-driven offensive boards that Izzo loves to see. Akins was also strong on defense, which his coach praised.

“To his credit, usually when shooters don’t shoot well their defense goes to hell,” Izzo said. “He’s a way better defensive player than he was last year, and he was pretty good last year. So he’s probably my best defender.”

Improvement in some effort-related areas the Spartans are emphasizing across the board could help Akins get more shots. Izzo specifically referenced Akins’ poor performance running the lane Tuesday. But again, that area can also go back to confidence. Running a lane free and focused looks a lot different than running it with the weight of a poor performance at the forefront.

Losing confidence is a negative feedback loop that is hard to break out of. The sooner Akins can break it, the better off he’ll be.

Blair’s recovery a long time coming

Guard Kennedy Blair finally got onto the court with her teammates for the first time Monday in the Michigan women’s basketball team’s exhibition against Wayne State. Her performance was inspiring for both her and her teammates, as she dropped 11 points. It’s been a long time coming.

“I felt like I had to watch for a year,” Blair said Friday, “and I finally got out there and I got to score.”

More like a year and a half, counting both a knee injury and then the fractured foot that Blair sustained.

Instead of learning and growing on the court as a freshman, she had to sit out and recover. Luckily, she got the year back in terms of her NCAA eligibility, but she also did as much as she could off the court to prepare for when she was healthy.

That moment is now, aided by an impact offseason which has put Blair in great shape for the season.

Finally able to get on the court, she spent about as much time as she could on the hardwood this offseason making up for lost time.

In the summers, a lot of players relax and recover.

But more than a year removed from the game she loves, Blair wasn’t going to waste time and ability.

So she set a strict schedule for herself, working in the gym and in the weight room to improve her speed, strength and conditioning.

It’s noticeable. MSU women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick, who originally recruited Blair to her old Bowling Green program before joining the Spartans, said Blair is in the “best shape she’s ever been in.”

“I felt like I changed a lot of habits,” Blair said. “... When I came back, I felt a lot better, a lot faster and stronger.”

Blair showed it in her first taste of college ball, dropping 11 points in Monday’s exhibition versus Wayne State with some tough finishes at the rim.

There’s a sense of relief in that last part that after being banged up for so long, she’s able to withstand physicality. She’ll get her first chance to play a game that counts Tuesday against Oakland.

With crop of transfers, Spartans add valuable experience

The Spartans lost about 48% of both their minutes and scoring from last season, a difficult turnover as Fralick enters her second season coaching the Spartans.

To combat the loss, they picked up four big transfers: guards Jaddan Simmons, Nyla Hampton and Emma Shumate, as well as forward Grace VanSlooten.

“You can’t teach experience,” Fralick said Friday.

“And we’re fortunate that we have a lot of kids with it. There’s just nothing like the ball going up live and the lights are bright and the game is fast, and so that experience has been important.”

VanSlooten was the most immediately noticeable add, with her defense and scoring touch already showing up early in the exhibition.

Shumate and Simmons make up a lot of lost scoring, Shumate most effectively from behind the arc and Simmons inside it.

Hampton might be the most underrated of all the additions. She’s reuniting with Fralick after playing for her former Bowling Green program from 2020 to 2023. She’s a back-toback MAC defensive player of the year, doing so the first time with Fralick’s Falcons in 2023 and doing it again with Ball State last season.

Fralick’s teams are usually good at scoring, but her best teams are the ones that can defend well, too. Hampton is a big addition in that regard.

Fralick noted that her team is still finding its synergy, but she likes the work ethic she’s seeing early on.

And overall, this Michigan State roster has a ton of depth to work with. Most importantly, with its transfers, a roster with so many new pieces isn’t lacking in experience. When the lights get bright, they’ll know what that feels like.