Couch: Michigan State's freshmen find themselves immersed in an ideal situation

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Gabe Brown, Foster Loyer and Aaron Henry don’t know what it’s like to get destroyed with nowhere to turn. They weren’t around to experience Penn State at the Palestra in Philadelphia two years ago.

Because when they turn around, Cassius Winston or Kenny Goins or Xavier Tillman — or someone — is always there to save their butts or offer advice or set an example.

“They’ve always got your back,” Brown said after playing his biggest role of the season in a 71-56 rout of the Nittany Lions on Sunday. “They’re always telling you what to do, telling you to get to the right spots, helping you out. Say your man blows past you, they’re right there in the gap. Every time.”

I still believe MSU’s five-member freshman class could turn out to be among the best of Tom Izzo’s tenure by the time it's done. It’s a class full of intriguing young players, absent one-and-done NBA talent. It lacks immediate star power. But these guys will be around a while. Whatever they become as sophomores, juniors and seniors, they’re getting a stronger foundation than their predecessors. Like Cassius Winston, who was part of that Penn State blitzing two years ago in Philadelphia.

“If you’re thrown out there as a freshman, you make a lot of mistakes. Just by you don’t know (what you’re doing),” Winston said Sunday evening. 

Bryce Jordan Center is to the Palestra as your driveway is to the Boston Garden. And Penn State this year is on a different trajectory than it was in January of 2017, devoid of optimism, its fan base lost to a deep state of apathy. That win over MSU was arguably the pinnacle of the Pat Chambers coaching era, which has about two months left. Meanwhile, MSU, two years later, is a team full of determined veterans who’ve learned how to win, led by a point guard, Winston, who makes it all work — even when he doesn’t play all that well, like Sunday.

If Sunday’s game had any long-term meaning, it was for three of MSU’s freshmen — Brown, Loyer and Henry. 

For Henry, what stands out is Izzo’s disappointment in him. MSU’s coach tried to send Henry a message with sharp postgame comments about his production in effort areas. It was a sign of Izzo’s increasing expectations for Henry and his value. The Spartans at full strength don’t need much from Loyer and Brown. Henry is essential to MSU’s ceiling this season.

“Two rebounds, one offensive rebound … that’s a shame. Because that’s an effort-related stat. He should mess up his shot and screw up some assignments, but when you’ve just got to go to the basket and get a rebound, you shouldn’t screw that up. Disappointed in that.” 

Henry heard it. Said he was disappointed in himself, too. Unless it becomes a thing, that’s that.

For Brown and Loyer, though, Sunday was perhaps a significant moment in time.

“I played 21 minutes?” Brown said, surprised. 

Brown hadn’t played 21 minutes since high school. These were critical rotation minutes, first-guy-off-the-bench minutes. He entered the game with 16:13 left in the first half and MSU ahead just 10-8 and was part of the crew that clamped down on Penn State, leaving the Nittany Lions stranded on the perimeter, jacking up 3-pointers. When he checked out, with 11:35 until halftime, MSU led 20-10.

“These last couple weeks, I’ve been wanting to work on my defense, because in high school, I didn’t really have to defend anybody, because I was always the biggest person,” Brown said. “Now I’m playing against bigger, faster, stronger guys. I’ve just been working on that and trying to be solid out there.”

For Brown, solid is everything right now. As is mimicking the fundamentals of veterans in front of him. His outside shot is his first love. But it’s not an entirely healthy relationship right now. He took five 3s Sunday, made just one. What mattered is that all five came within the confines of the offense. None, I recall, when the ball should have been swung to a teammate instead.

His ticket to playing time — other than injuries to juniors Joshua Langford (ankle) and Kyle Ahrens (back) — is putting together more games like Sunday, when MSU was 18 points better than Penn State with him on the floor. No other Spartan had a better plus-minus mark.

“I thought he did do a pretty good job defensively,” Izzo said. “Where we really got caught is on the weak side, with young guys. The only thing they did in high school was guard their man. There was no weak side, no getting over screens the right way. But I thought Gabe was a little more engaged.”

On this night, that counted as a compliment from a predictably grumpy Izzo, who chastised his team’s second-half sloppiness and lack of ball movement and had written “Be unhappy postgame” on his calendar.

Loyer was forced into action for multiple reasons — the injuries to Langford and Ahrens, which meant McQuaid didn’t have minutes to give at point guard, and Winston’s early foul trouble.

Loyer handled Penn State’s shaky defense with ease, looked in control, recovered his mistakes — a blocked shot, for example, which he wrestled back into MSU’s possession. He took charges, played with grit. And he made two shots when the game was still in doubt, one from off the ball, the other a pull-up 3. He had a smidgen of swagger to him for the first time. “To have two (shots) go down in the first half, it was big for me,” Loyer said.

For both players, there was a noticeable contrast in comfort level between Sunday and the first time they were called upon to give meaningful minutes, in the late November overtime loss at Louisville. 

“They’re a lot more poised, a lot more confident,” Winston said. “Foster did a good job of finding his spots, leading the team, holding it down. He was real solid out there. Gabe did a great job of rebounding, bringing some effort. They go out there, they weren’t nervous, they just played with a lot of poise and played their role.”

They have an advantage that promising freshmen rarely get in college basketball — to be immersed in the culture of a veteran team, to be a small part of the mix, instead of playing a leading role, like Penn State’s freshman backcourt. Loyer and Brown might be starters if they played for the Nittany Lions. 

Winston knows that feeling. Two years ago against Penn State, it was the only time Izzo started all four of his freshmen — Winston, Langford, Nick Ward and Miles Bridges. It was an abject disaster.

“Now they get a chance to watch, learn, see what other people are doing,” Winston said of this year’s class. “Then they just follow that until they figure out that little flavor or certain things they’re good at. At first, they just say, ‘He does it right, so we’re going to do exactly what he does.' ”

It’s an ideal freshman experience. We saw more of its benefits on Sunday. 

“It just makes you more confident in relying on them later in the year,” Goins said.

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Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.