Spartans Continued Interesting Trend in First Big Ten Victory
Spartans forward Coen Carr led the Spartans with 12 points off the bench in the Spartans' 90-72 win over Minnesota.
Carr continued the trend of a new player stepping up every game for the Spartans. Through nine games, the Spartans have had six players lead the team in scoring.
Unlike past seasons, there is no true star for Spartans coach Tom Izzo, who has seen his bench take over.
Carr is the fourth leading scorer to come off the bench this season, with the Spartans going 3-1 in those games.
All 12 Spartans players who played on Wednesday were able to break through to get on the stat sheet, including redshirt freshman Gerhig Normand, who scored his first career points in the final minutes of the game.
Freshman guard Jase Richardson has made his mark early in the season, leading the team in scoring in back-to-back games during the Maui Invitational.
Senior co-captain Jaden Akins is still the Spartans' primary option, leading the Spartans with 12.4 points per game. However, the veteran guard is still comfortable taking a step back in the offense at times.
Last season, the Spartans had just five different players lead a game in scoring, with former guard Tyson Walker leading the team in the majority of games.
Walker averaged 18.4 points per game, but if the graduate guard had an off night, the Spartans would struggle.
The last time the Spartans played at Minnesota, their offense collapsed when Walker went out for an extended period of the game, with an injury, leading to the Spartans' loss.
This time around, Akins had a mediocre game, scoring 9 points. But it didn’t matter as the team collectively had one their best offensive nights of the season, scoring 90 points in regulation on the way to their first conference win of the season.
This unique style of play has the chance to raise the Spartans' floor, as on any night a different player can step up and make shots when it matters.
In such a deep conference, having multiple players to trust is such an underrated trait that will be valuable for when the team makes a tournament push in March.
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