MADISON, Wis. — It’s officially March. The worst of the winter is over and spring is in sight.
For college basketball fans, this very will might be the best time of the entire year. But for most players and even coaches, this is the dark point of the season.
They’ve endured five months of constant games, practice and travel, stuck with the same 20 guys almost every single day for even longer.
This is when teams begin to physically wilt, emotionally collapse, or fall off the rails for whatever miscellaneous reason. Look at Purdue, who just endured a four-game losing streak.
Within the Big Ten, there’s one team at the top of the standings, somehow peaking during the toughest portion of its schedule.
The Michigan State Spartans (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten) fought off the threat of a late-season decline and have risen to the top of the Big Ten standings on the backs of their deep, 10-man lineups.
They’ll attempt to increase their control over the conference when the Wisconsin Badgers (22-6, 12-5) travel to East Lansing on Sunday.
Tom Izzo’s Spartans are led by no single player, duo or even trio. The “strength in numbers” cliche is liberally used by coaches in all sports, but it’s actually quite applicable to this group.
“We did say that our strength in numbers has to be the reason,” Izzo said after their Wednesday win over No. 16 Maryland.
“Because five against five, they win. And I guess five against ten, we won. But it’s been the battle cry to be different and have strength in numbers all year, and tonight was a night when it really benefited us.”
Ten players average at least 14.6 minutes per game for the Spartans. Five players average 20 but only one plays more than 25 per game.
Their team leader in minutes, senior guard Jaden Akins, ranks No. 56 in the Big Ten in minutes per game with 26.3.
Izzo has tweaked the starting lineup throughout the season, but it doesn’t seem to correlate much with playing time.
Freshman guard Jase Richardson is second on the team in minutes per game with 23.8, but has only been a starter for the past six games.
Center Szymon Zapala is one of two Spartan players, along with Akins, to start every single game this season. Yet his 15.2 minutes per game rank ninth on the team, even slightly behind a different center in Carson Cooper.
Guard Trey Holloman spent the majority of the season as a starter before moving to the bench. Yet Izzo trusted him with the ball in the biggest moment of the game against Maryland.
Whether this was on purpose or by necessity, their bench reliance has worked.
They’re fifth in the country in bench points per game, averaging 35.2, miles ahead of the next highest Big Ten team (Illinois, 26.6).
More importantly, this strategy has continued to work against the real conference heavy-hitters.
The Spartans are riding a four-game winning streak during their toughest stretch of the season, having just beaten No. 13 Purdue, No. 12 Michigan and No. 16 Maryland, as they prepare for No. 11 Wisconsin.
Their opponents’ top-heavy rotations have tired out in the second halves of these games, allowing the Spartans’ fresher bodies to simply outlast them.
It’s hard to tell how sustainable this strategy will be in the postseason, when lineups almost always thin out and coaches put their eggs in fewer baskets.
But that won’t matter Sunday. Greg Gard must trust his bench and not let his starters tire out the way we’ve seen with Michigan State’s recent opponents.
Luckily for Gard, he should feel good about trusting his bench. They may not score as much as the Spartans’ unit, but it’s a defined group of four guys who know exactly what their role is.
Kamari McGee and Carter Gilmore are two veterans whose defense and shooting has been integral to the team’s success. Their minutes feel safe, even in the tougher tournament games.
It’s the other bench pair — Jack Janicki and Xavier Amos — who will be more expendable come the postseason.
Janicki is a solid defender who can fit seamlessly within the offense and even knock down 3-pointers (36.1 percent on 36 attempts). Amos, on the other hand, is a little bit more inconsistent, and thus more expendable. But he’s a bigger body who’s capable of hitting shots.
Both of them had a strong showing in the Badgers’ most recent win against Washington, so it’s likely both of them will see the court in East Lansing.
Starting guard Max Klesmit’s sudden lower leg injury adds some extra stakes to this conversation. He began Tuesday’s game but left after five minutes and never checked back in.
Gard downplayed the severity after the game, but it’ll be something to watch on Sunday. Janicki and Amos better be ready.
At the point in the season when coach paranoia increases and lineups thin out, Sunday could be the last real opportunity for these supporting characters to prove themselves on a legitimate stage.
They’ll have their hands full against a team whose bench is nearly indecipherable from their starters.
Tip-off is set for 12:30 p.m. CST on Sunday, broadcasting nationally on CBS.
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