Hall Making an Impact for Spartans

It's not easy for a freshman to break into the rotation of one of the nation's top basketball teams, but Malik Hall not only has emerged as an important piece for Michigan State, but he's made his way into the starting lineup too.

A 6-7 forward, Hal is averaging just 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, and is finding himself in some of the most important games so far.

Hall made his way into the starting lineup in late January, scoring seven points and grabbing six rebounds in a win at Minnesota, and followed that up with six points and two rebounds against Northwestern.

"I think he's done a damn good job," Head Coach Tom Izzo said. "He's playing around 15 minutes a game. For him to play that, and Rocket (Watts) to play in the 20s, those are a lot more minutes than we thought they'd play at the beginning of the year."

Hall's impact is a reflection of two realities, his quick maturation, but also MSU's significant slew of early-season injuries. The team is still looking to find a rotation that it feels comfortable with, and Hall is part of the working formula.

"He'll show spurts that he's one of the better players on our team, in all facets," junior forward Xavier Tillman said. "He'll have these spurts where you're like, 'Oh shoot, he's really good.'"

The best example of Hall showing flashes of stardom occurred when the Spartans traveled to Newark to face Seton Hall on Nov. 14. Hall scored 17 points in 19 minutes, off the bench. He hit all seven of shots from the field, and provided the spark MSU needed to defeat Seton Hall, 76-73.

A native of Aurora, Ill., Hall has remained even-keeled since then, as he said he's paying more attention to what the team needs moving forward.

"One good game out of 30-something doesn't really mean anything to me," Hall said. "There are still a lot of things that this team has to accomplish, and I still have to accomplish, and I want to focus on those things first."

Hall laid out a laundry list of things he needs to improve on, despite the praise from his head coach and teammates.

"I think we were looking at the stats and I have like 40 (47) personal fouls already," Hall said. "Better passes all the time, better screens, making the right decisions, the right reads. Just a bunch of little things that aren't like super-glaring, but they cost us buckets at times, cost us key possessions."

Sophomore forward Aaron Henry stressed that as the Big Ten season moves along, Hall has found success by gaining more experience.

"I think he just needs to keep the confidence in himself," Henry said. "Coach can come at you sometimes and if you've never been here before you don't know how to handle it. He just needs to keep playing and know that within all of what (Izzo) says, he wouldn't have you here for no reason."

Hall said the mentorship he is receiving from the older players has been valuable to his development.

"Everybody's taken a big role (in helping me)," Hall said. "Not even just the people at my position but guys like Kyle (Ahrens) do a great job with me. 'Ahreny' is a very vocal player and does a great job of talking to me all the time."

Ahrens is carrying out a tradition he experienced as a new player, as the older Spartans helped mentor him. Veterans such as Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes and Matt McQuaid took the time to make sure Ahrens learned from their examples.

"The little things like, when you miss a shot you tend to put your head down – it's more of just having the attitude of, 'Hey, I'm gonna hit the next shot, I'm not worried about the last one,'" Ahrens said. "It's just a lot of little things that Denzel and Bryn always helped me out with, and then McQuaid, helped me out with each and every day."

Izzo said the Spartans are still a work in progress, and younger players such as Hall are important in helping the team grow.

"I'd say our defense has to improve a little bit, our rebounding, our free throw shooting," Izzo said. "And then we've got to get our lineup straight, it's been a little bit of a chaotic part of it, figuring out how to get two guys in there."

And when he gets those chances, Hall hopes to take advantage of those opportunities.

Players Mentioned

Malik Hall

Aaron Henry

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.