EAST LANSING – Remember when Michigan State basketball’s 3-point struggles looked even worse than last year?
That early-season concern has proven to be a thing of the past. And the Spartans are doing it while Tom Izzo continues to figure out his shooting guard spot.
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“They’re all shooting the ball better,” Izzo said after practice Thursday, Dec. 18.
Continuing to hit from outside will be a key when No. 9 MSU takes on Oakland and Greg Kampe’s chaos-inducing zone defense on Saturday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Tipoff between the Spartans (9-1) and Golden Grizzlies (6-6) is 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 from beyond the arc and finished at 31.1%, which ranked 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 to transfer and Jaden Akins and Frankie Fidler to graduation – the Spartans went just 13-for-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, in the past eight games, MSU has improved dramatically from outside. The Spartans are making 42% in that stretch (68-for-162) and now rank 75th in Division I at 36.5% 3-point shooting for the season.
“Shooters are sometimes like kickers, they’re like pitchers,” Izzo said. “Some of the times, it’s more mental. You get in a little slump. I think that’s what happens.”
While Izzo continues to demand more two-way play from his shooting guards, the quartet of Divine Ugochukwu, Kur Teng, Trey Fort and Jordan Scott have helped boost the perimeter shooting on offense. Ugochukwu, who has started the past two games while also serving as point guard backup to Jeremy Fears Jr., is making 64.7% of his 3s (11-for-17) over the past eight games, including a 5-for-5 performance for a career-high 23 points at Penn State.
Teng (11-for-27, 40.7%) and Fort (7-for-22, 31.8%) have also started in that eight-game stretch, while freshman Scott (6-for-18, 33.3%) continues to make a case to become the fourth starting shooting guard with his lanky 6-foot-8 frame providing long-armed defense and rebounding the others can’t match.
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“I think we still have a corner that we need to turn,” Scott said after practice Thursday. “I think we he haven’t even touched our potential yet.”
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Fears (6-for-19, 31.6% over the last eight games) and Coen Carr (4-for-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 boost in the recent resurgence.
The 6-9 senior is 15-for-26 (57.7%) over the past eight games to help offset struggles the past three games with him and center Carson Cooper scoring around the basket. Reserve redshirt freshman big man Jesse McCulloch also is emerging as a weapon from deep, making 5 of 8 3-point attempts. Cooper, after spending parts of the summer on increasing his range, is 0-for-4 on the season on 3-pointers but has been stretching defenses inside the arc.
Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler (0) attempts a 3-pointer against Duke during the first half at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025.
Oakland’s 3-point defense ranks 273rd (34.8%), but Kampe’s squad also hits 34.9% from deep (133rd). The Grizzlies have won five of their last six and are coming off an 82-77 win at Northern Kentucky on Wednesday in which they went 6-for-18 from beyond the arc while holding the Norse to 6-for-26 shooting with Kampe’s pack-line defense that puts a premium on preventing penetration into the paint.
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The Spartans went 6-for-17 from 3-point range 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 past three meetings against Kampe.
“We learned so much, especially watching the film from last year’s game,” McCulloch said Thursday. “We watched it this morning to see where to attack the zone and how to handle that, so we’re gonna be very prepared.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball’s 3-pointers falling after ugly season start
