Note: This is the fourth in a series of stories evaluating returning players on Michigan State’s 2022-23 roster. Previously: Pierre Brooks, Tyson Walker, Jaden Akins
EAST LANSING – This season, Joey Hauser will do what few players in Michigan State history have done:
Play in a game at the Breslin Center after kissing the floor.
Hauser took part in Michigan State’s senior ceremonies at the Spartans’ home finale in March. He said at the time that he was undecided as to his future plans, but the fact that he was participating in senior day activities after using just three seasons of eligibility seemed to telegraph his plans.
A month later, though, he had decided that those plans now included returning to play at Michigan State again in 2022-23.
How he played in the five games after that senior day ceremony played a significant role in his return. Hauser will now look to pick up where he left off in this unexpected season.
THE BASICS: Hauser averaged 7.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while averaging 22.2 minutes per game in 35 games. He shot 44.6 percent from the field and 40.3 percent from 3-point range.
QUOTE OF NOTE: “You have to be proud of him. He’s been through a lot. We all know it, it’s been well-logged. So many people jumped off his bandwagon, and as you guys know, I never did. You never jump off somebody’s bandwagon when you know they’re working towards it, and every single day he brought it.” – Tom Izzo on Joey Hauser, March 18
BEST PERFORMANCE OF 2021-22: Hauser saved his best for (second-to) last. In Michigan State’s NCAA Tournament opener against Davidson, Hauser exploded for 27 points, 10 more than he scored in any other game all season. He went 9-for-12 from the field and 4-for-6 from 3-point range and hauled in eight rebounds, a critical performance in a 1-point Michigan State win.
THE GOOD: Hauser’s offensive numbers all trended in the right direction for most of the season, to the point where he was playing his best basketball during March. After shooting just 26.1 percent from 3-point range in his first eight games, Hauser finished shooting 47.4 percent from deep in his last 13 games. His offensive rating increased as the season went on while his turnover rate went down.
He also showed to be an improved defender compared to his first season; he was key in slowing down Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson in the Spartans’ home win over the Wolverines. His turnover rate went down noticeably.
And in the team’s internal grading in both practices and games, Izzo said that Hauser regularly graded out at or near the top of team members in areas like effort and positioning.
THE BAD: Consistency has proven elusive for Hauser during his time at Michigan State and 2021-22 was no exception. Immediately before that 27-point outburst against Davidson, he was scoreless on four shot attempts in 21 minutes against Purdue. He regularly switched between solid outings and quiet ones throughout the season.
And while he ended the season well, his scoring numbers took a dip compared to his first to college basketball seasons, when he averaged 9.7 points per game. That was partly by design – Hauser said he wanted to focus less on his scoring this season and more on other parts of his game – but that point per game total was still lower than expected.
THE ODD: Hauser had some huge year-to-year swings in terms of his shooting.
The good news was that he boosted his 3-point shooting by 6 percentage points.
The bad news was his 2-points shooting went down 12 percentage points. More specifically, his mid-range 2′s took a serious dip: According to BartTorvik.com, Hauser shot 58.1 percent on mid-range shots in 2020-21 and 36.4 percent in 2021-22. That’s a swing of more than 20 percent points.
A glance at his shot chart provides some context. In his first season with Michigan State, Hauser was regularly getting within 10 feet of the rim in the paint and hitting at a high clip. Last year, he didn’t get there as often and didn’t hit as often when he did.
The improved 3-point shooting made up for that, though, and gave him nearly an identical effective shooting percentage. But it was quite a drastic change in offensive numbers for the same player.
REASONED PERSPECTIVE: On the whole, the season may not have been what Hauser or anyone else wanted. The expectations that he came to Michigan State with after that strong freshman year at Marquette have been hard to live up to.
But the positive trajectory and some encouraging signs give hope that Hauser can have a strong final season in East Lansing.
Hauser has admitted that confidence and the mental aspect of the game have been among his biggest focuses during his time at Michigan State. Playing the 2020-21 season under COVID-19 restrictions was tougher for him than it was for some others. By the end of 2021-22, though, he seemed to finally be more relaxed and enjoying the game more, and his output reflected that.
The season was also probably better than the numbers showed. But being a consistent offensive producer has still been a challenge.
ASSESS AND GUESS IN 2022-23: That Hauser is even playing for Michigan State in 2022-23 comes as a surprise. The fact that he went through senior day ceremonies in March in his third year of eligibility seemed to telegraph his plans.
Yet by a few weeks after the season, Hauser had opted to come back. The way he ended the 2021-22 season had a lot to do with that decision, and he’ll look to build on that going forward
Michigan State has a bit of a dichotomy when it comes to its roster: it has some holes in its rotation but two starting-caliber players at power forward. Izzo has already indicated that he plans on doing some shifting to balance that out, with Malik Hall playing more on the perimeter.
That should make Hauser the Spartans’ primary power forward, but he’ll likely be asked to fill in at center, too, where the Spartans currently have an incoming freshman in Jaxon Kohler and Mady Sissoko, who has played limited minutes in two seasons, as the sole options.
But with Gabe Brown and maybe Max Christie gone, Michigan State will be looking for someone to take on more of a scoring load, and Hauser will have a chance to consistently be that.
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