Michigan State basketball expects Tyson Walker and Malik Hall to be ready for Thursday's game against No. 3 seed Arizona State. The two seniors practiced Monday as the Spartans prepare to travel to Palm Desert, California, early Tuesday.
Walker missed Sunday's 81-49 blowout win over Alcorn State with "flu-like" symptoms. He is expected to be at 100 percent against Arizona. Hall sprained his ankle in the second half against the Warriors and played just three minutes, but he's also expected to be ready to play.
The Spartans will need Walker and Hall to be at their best against a strong Arizona team. Walker is the team's leading scorer at 23 points per game and Hall is second on the team with 10 points per game.
Michigan State will also need to improve its rebounding if it wants to beat Arizona State. The Spartans trailed 41-38 in Sunday's game and were outrebounded 16-10 by Alcorn State on offense. Arizona State is sixth in the nation in rebounding, and the Wildcats have four 7-footers and five other players between 6-8 and 6-10.
"We have to make sure we compete for offensive rebounds and total rebounds," Hall said.
Izzo was also critical of the team's leadership, which includes Hall, Walker and point guard AJ Hoggard. He's starting to see improvement in that area of the team's game, but he still wants to see more.
"There's no question," Izzo said, "we're not where we should be." Some of that will come. But sustained intensity, attention to detail and things you have to do over and over again - not once or twice, not three or four times. That's going to be for the upperclassmen."
Michigan State and Arizona already have a common rival: Duke. the Wildcats defeated the Blue Devils 78-73 on Nov. 10 in Durham, N.C. The Spartans are coming off an upset victory over the Blue Devils in Durham. Last Tuesday, the Spartans fell to Duke, 74-65, in the Champions Classic in Chicago.
Izzo has been trying to get his players more focused on this road trip after losing that game, the home opener against James Madison and the exhibition loss to eighth-ranked Tennessee.
"How they compete, how hard they play," Hoggard said of the Wildcats' practice." They play hard. They're going to take some things away and they're going to hit some balls. So we have to be ready for that. Coach did a great job today showing us that."
The game against Arizona is a great opportunity for Michigan State to prove that it can compete with the top teams in the country. If the Spartans want to beat the Wildcats, they will need to play one of their best games of the season.
