EAST LANSING – The state of Michigan is now two weeks away from its COVID-19 hiatus and has all players on its return list and at least a week off virus protocols.

He’s reduced his turnovers and fouls by winning his last two games, and his defensive numbers have gone up.

Tom Izzo’s team only needs one major piece of the puzzle before they can start running late in the season for a berth in the NCAA tournament:

Strokes.

“When we start to shoot the ball better, if we can continue to defend the way we are, that’s when we will take some serious steps forward,” Izzo said on Friday.

With 17 games this season, this Michigan State team is well on its way to becoming one of Spartans’ worst teams in more than a decade.

His 3-point percentage (32.7) is on course to be Michigan State’s worst since 2001, when the Spartans went to a Final Four while shooting 32 percent from deep. His 2 point percentage is his worst in a decade. The Spartans are among the three worst teams in the Big Ten in both categories.

Michigan State has gone through three pointers this year and has struggled with ball movement at times. But Izzo said he was largely happy with the quality of his team’s shots.

His biggest reasoning for this low percentage is the health and conditioning of some of the best shooters on his team. Joshua Langford shot 25% from the field in the first three games of his COVID-19 absence while taking the team’s most shots in that streak. The team also spent those three games without Gabe Brown due to his own diagnosis of COVID-19 before he returned for Michigan State’s last two games,

“The most important thing when you get out of this is the shooters… are the ones who don’t get their legs back from COVID,” Izzo said. “Even if you don’t have any symptoms, the only symptom everyone seems to have is weakness. It takes time to come back. “

Now these two players are now at least a week away from COVID-19 protocols. Izzo said players like Joey Hauser can shoot better percentage than them as well, and Michigan State now has the bodies and conditioning to use their quick break more to create high percentage shots.

He will also pitch Malik Hall for the second consecutive powerhouse game against Hauser, after the change produced better games of the two on Tuesday against Penn State.

In short, the Spartans have few excuses for continuing to have one of the lowest shooting percentages in the Big Ten.

“We’ve got pretty much a full back-up squad… if there’s one time we can start putting it in place, it’s now,” said Izzo. “Later than I would like, later than most people would like, but it’s not the fault of these players, I promise you.”

Saturday’s game against the Iowa No.15 (2:30 p.m., FOX) could provide a boost. The Hawkeyes are second to last in the Big Ten game in terms of defensive efficiency, and the Spartans’ loss to Iowa on February 2 stands out as an outlier in their shooting struggles. Michigan State shot 12 for 29 at 3 points in this game.

In the rematch, Izzo said the State of Michigan needs to find a way to reduce their fouls (Iowa has gone to the free throw line 35 times) and reasonably hold the NCAA top scorer in check, Luka Garza, without sacrificing open shots to the Hawkeyes’ talented perimeter shooters. .

Garza scored 27 points against the Spartans in the first clash, and Izzo hinted on Friday that the Spartans would change the way they defend him the second time around.

Another effort like Michigan State against Iowa the first time around would put him in position for a key win on an NCAA tournament resume, if he can add one or two more games this time around.

“We played well, but we have to make more winning plays on the home stretch to win this game,” said Spartans point guard Foster Loyer.