Michigan State men’s basketball avoided fought off an upset scare from Colgate in Monday night’s season-opener, and a big part of that was because of forward Jaxon Kohler.
Kohler stepped up for the Spartans in the season-opener, leading Michigan State in points and rebounds in the 80-69 win over the Raiders on Monday. Kohler finished the opener with 16 points and 15 rebounds for a double-double. He led the Spartans in both of those statistics and his strong play in the second half sparked the Spartans pulling away for the relatively comfortable win.
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Following the game, Kohler talked about the Spartans’ need to get off to a better start to games, especially with a big-time game against No. 14 Arkansas looming later this week.
“We have to come stronger, play with more energy,” Kohler said during a postgame media session. “We have to fix that. We can’t afford to get off to these really slow starts against teams like Arkansas or whoever. That’s not the Michigan State way. So going forward that is going to be our biggest improvement. Starting the game, playing good defense, rebounding and running.”
Hear what else Kohler had to say about his strong performance and the Spartans’ season-opening win over Colgate in the video below — courtesy of SpartanMag.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Jaxon Kohler talks areas for improvement following poor start vs. Colgate
