How Malik Hall's surge helping Michigan State basketball go 'from good to great'
EAST LANSING — Malik Hall might be playing his best basketball in five years at Michigan State.
Just in time to go home.
The senior forward from Aurora, Illinois, heads to Northwestern on Sunday, with his Spartans seeking their first road win of the season. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston (BTN).
And they do so riding a wave of confidence and a five-game win streak, their longest since winning seven in a row at this time last season.
“That confidence just helps us flow into the next one and keeps us going,” Hall said after Thursday’s 92-61 throttling of Penn State. “It keeps everything a little bit lighter and little bit easier.”
In his past two games, Hall has 42 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists with four steals. He made 16 of 23 shots, going 3-for-4 from 3-point range. The key, coach Tom Izzo said, is for his veteran leader to put it together consistently — something he has struggled to do throughout his career.
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Hall is averaging 11 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 24.2 minutes this season after undergoing foot surgery in the spring, and his production at times has been up and down. The high points have been an 18-point game against Duke and 22 points and seven rebounds against Nebraska. He also went 2-for 12 for four points against James Madison, made 1 of 7 against Oakland for just five points and one rebound and struggled through illness for two points and three boards in a loss to Wisconsin.
“Some of the reason he hasn't maintained it was injuries,” Izzo said after practice Friday. “Last year, that foot was a problem all year. But Joey Houser went through it. If you remember, his sophomore year was so-so; his junior year, he had a little injury, too, to (his) foot. But I just think Malik's looking at it like, 'This is my last hurrah.' He's been more consistent. I think it took him a while, because of the five months he had off.
“And if he can stay healthy, that Malik — whether he scores 15 or 12 or 24 — that Malik is really valuable, because he can guard, he understands, and he helps the other guys. He knows what he's doing. He shoots good from the free-throw line. I think that was the missing link in going from good to great.”
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward tied a career high with 24 points against the Nittany Lions, making all six of his first-half shots for 15 points in helping MSU (9-5, 1-2) race out to a 25-point halftime lead. The Spartans' 51 points were the most they've scored in a first half since Jan. 2, 2019, against Northwestern. That Cassius Winston-led team went to Izzo’s last Final Four.
“It's nice to have a good game,” Hall said. “But if you're thinking about ways that you can improve, I think that just keeps you focused on the ultimate goal and being better than being happy for one moment.”
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Despite reaching 10-or-more points 41 times over his 131-game MSU career, Hall has put together three straight double-digit scoring games just three times. The first was a four-game stretch early last season before his foot injury flared up the first time, the second was a three-game spurt after he returned from a second absence as the Spartans chased an NCAA tournament bid.
Hall can get his second three-game double-figure scoring stretch of this season with another productive performance against the Wildcats (10-3, 1-1). In five career games against Northwestern, Hall is averaging 7 points and 4 rebounds in 18.4 minutes, but he has not faced coach Chris Collins’ team since the 2021-22 season.
However, scoring isn’t Hall’s primary mission. The best glue guy on MSU’s team at both ends of the floor — as well as the last link to the Spartans’ last Big Ten title team his freshman year in 2019-20 — Hall sees his role in helping the team improve as “something I can ride out for a long time, for sure.”
“Basketball is a crazy game. Sometimes you're in a groove, sometimes you're not in a groove. Everything can change every day,” he said. “I can go into the next game, and they're sending two people at me (defensively) the whole game and I can't do anything about it. I'm happy to be in a good groove, but I'm just focusing on continuing to impact the game.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Wildcats
Matchup: Michigan State (8-5, 1-2 Big Ten) at Northwestern (10-3, 1-1).
Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. Sunday; Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois.
TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WJR-AM (760).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Malik Hall helping Michigan State basketball go 'from good to great'
