Michigan State’s explosive guards put on a show in Charlotte. A tough test awaits

Early Thursday morning — “really, really, really early this morning,” to borrow the head coach’s exact phrasing — Tom Izzo sent Michigan State starting guard Jaden Akins a text.

It read:

“As good a kid as you are, as good a student as you are... you deserve to be good (today),” Izzo recalled after his team’s 69-51 win over Mississippi State.

Akins certainly got what he deserved, then.

Because he put on a show in Charlotte.

The 6-foot-4 junior guard out of Farmington, Michigan, had what Izzo claimed to be the best “three-dimensional” game he’s had since arriving at Michigan State three years ago. He was fast. Disciplined. He flashed a smile to the traveling Michigan State fans facing the team’s bench several times and pointed to them when he hit corner 3s, a March Madness rite of passage. He shot the ball exceptionally well, too — finishing with 15 points on 6-of-14 from the field and 3-of-8 from beyond the arc — and he provided what will likely be the highlight of the tournament in Charlotte.

That play?

A posterizing dunk over Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard late in the second half. The highlight felt like an early dagger, one of many furnished by the junior guard.

“I felt like early I just took good shots,” Akins said postgame. “ My first shot was an open 3, and I hit it. That kind of got me going. From there, the play you’re talking about (the dunk), he kind of closed out hard, and I hit him with a pump fake, went baseline and just tried to finish. My team, I credit my team a lot because they just tell me to keep shooting it. No matter if I make or miss, just keep shooting it and stay confident. So I did.”

Akins was joined by Tyson Walker, the Spartans’ leading scorer, on the stat sheet. Walker finished with 19 points on 7-of-12 field goals and added two assists. He was particularly explosive and had some highlights, too. The one MSU fans will remember came with 12:48 remaining in the first half, on a fastbreak, when the springy guard pulled up for a transition 3 that nestled into the net and sent the lower bowl of the Spectrum Center into a frenzy. That pushed the game to 18-8.

AJ Hoggard, who recorded one of his eight assists on that play, then proceeded to skip down-court and point at the MSU fans, kiss his jersey and screamed and pointed to the ground, as if to say, This is our time!

Indeed it was.

The Spartans have a tough test ahead of them. As of online publication, the No. 1 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels and No. 16 seeded Wagner are playing on the same court, with the winner to face Michigan State. If the Tar Heels advance, the Spartans backcourt will have their hands full, what with ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis and freshman speedster Elliott Cadeau to account for.

But there were promising shows of strength provided by the Spartans: their grittiness, their toughness, for one. Their bigs weren’t intimidated by Mississippi’s length, as many national prognosticators expected. And their guards hit shots and rebounded with everyone else. It was an “old-school” win, Izzo said postgame, and their players agreed.

“That’s kind of our motto, being physical, doing the dirty work,” Walker said. “It’s not like we’re reinventing anything new.”

No. Not new for an Izzo team.

But there was something new about this performance, for this team with its explosive guards, nonetheless. Maybe that’s what drew the tougher-than-nails coach to near-tears as he approached the local radio booth postgame. Or maybe his emotion was caused by the sight of his son, Steve, getting in at the end of the contest — watching him nail a 3 on this stage, at this level, even if he let it go after the buzzer sounded, rendering the shot lost to history to those who didn’t see it first-hand.

Maybe it was everything else.

On Wednesday, Izzo called making his 26th straight tournament “neat.”

How would he describe his 56th tournament win?

“Phenomenal, exciting,” Izzo said with a smile on Thursday.

A tough test awaits Saturday, thanks to the explosive performance Michigan State brought to Charlotte.

The new question:

How far will it take them?