EAST LANSING – Remember when Michigan State Basketball Did the 3-point struggles seem even worse than last year?
That early-season worry turned out to be a thing of the past. And the Spartans let’s do it while Tom Izzo continues to find his position at shooting guard.
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“They all shoot the ball better,” Izzo said after practice on Thursday, Dec. 18.
Continuing to hit from the outside will be key when No. 9 MSU faces Oakland and Greg Kampe’s zone defense Saturday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The showdown between the Spartans (9-1) and Golden Grizzlies (6-6) will take place at noon on Big Ten Network.
Michigan State’s Jordan Scott makes a 3-pointer against Duke during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Despite winning the Big Ten by three games last season with a guard-heavy playing group, MSU struggled beyond the arc and finished at 31.1 percent, which placed it 317th out of 355 Division I teams. Then in the first three regular season games in November — after losing Jase Richardson to the NBA, Tre Holloman and Xavier Booker transferred and Jaden Akins and Frankie Fidler up graduation — the Spartans went just 13 out of 60 from 3-point range. Their 21.7% shooting was the third worst percentage in college basketball at the time.
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However, over the last eight games, MSU has improved significantly from the outside. The Spartans are shooting 42 percent during that stretch (68-for-162) and now rank 75th in Division I on 36.5 percent shooting for the season.
“Shooters are like kickers sometimes, they’re like throwers,” Izzo said. “Sometimes it’s more mental. You kind of fall into a bit of a slump. I think that’s what happens.”
As Izzo continues to demand more two-way play from his shooters, the quartet of Divine Ugochukwu, Kur Teng, Trey Fort and Jordan Scott has helped bolster the perimeter shooting on offense. Ugochukwu, who started the last two games while also serving as backup point guard for Jeremy Fears Jr., is making 64.7% of his 3s (11 for 17) over the last eight games, including a 5-of-5 performance for a career-high 23 points at Penn State.
Teng (11 of 27, 40.7 percent) and Fort (7 of 22, 31.8 percent) also started in this eight-game stretch, while freshman Scott (6 of 18, 33.3 percent) continues to make his case to become the starting fourth shooter with his lanky 6-foot-8 frame providing long-arm defense and rebounding that others can’t match.
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“I think we still have a corner to turn,” Scott said after Thursday’s practice. “I think we haven’t even touched our potential yet.”
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Fears (6 of 19, 31.6% over the last eight games) and Coen Carr (4 of 15, 26.7%) continue to work on their perimeter shooting. But the emergence of forward Jaxon Kohler as an outside threat has been a significant accelerator of the recent resurgence.
The 6-9 senior is 15 of 26 (57.7%) over the last eight games to help offset the struggles of the last three games with him and center Carson Cooper scoring around the basket. Reserve redshirt freshman big man Jesse McCulloch also emerges as a weapon from deep, making 5 of 8 3-point attempts. Cooper, after spending part of the summer increasing his range, is 0 of 4 this season from 3-point range, but has stretched defenses inside the arc.
Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler (0) attempts a 3-point shot against Duke during the first half at the Breslin Center in East Lansing on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025.
Oakland’s 3-point defense ranks 273rd (34.8%), but Kampe’s team is also hitting 34.9% from deep (133rd). The Grizzlies have won five of their last six games and are coming off an 82-77 victory at Northern Kentucky on Wednesday, in which they went 6 of 18 from beyond the arc while holding the Norwegians to 6 of 26 shooting with Kampe’s pack line defense emphasizing preventing penetration into the paint.
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The Spartans went 6-for-17 on 3-pointers in last year’s 77-58 win over Oakland at LCA, extending their all-time record to 23-0 against the Grizzlies in a series that began in 1998. Izzo’s team is 25-for-60 from behind the arc in the last three meetings against Kampe.
“We learned a lot, especially watching film from last year’s game,” McCulloch said Thursday. “We looked at it this morning to see where to attack the zone and how to deal with that, so we’re going to be very prepared.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball’s 3-pointers drop after poor start to season
