Joey Hauser's fine-tuned shot levels Western Michigan in lopsided Michigan State victory

East Lansing — Through four games, it was hard to find much to quibble about when it comes to Joey Hauser’s game.

The transfer from Marquette who was forced to sit out last season was effective as Michigan State raced out to four straight victories. He nearly had a double-double in the opener then rattled off two in a row, including one in the victory at Duke.

But Hauser was getting a lot of his points around the basket, which is fine, but he’s also one of the team’s best perimeter shooters. And through those same four games, he was only 3-for-13 from 3-point range. It wasn’t for lack of work. Hauser was putting in plenty of time, even getting feedback from the coaches on what he could do to get his shot to start falling.

BOX SCORE: No. 8 Michigan State 79, Western Michigan 61

“There was a little frustration,” Hauser admitted. “But I had to keep reminding myself just to rely on the things that I’ve always been doing with my shot prep. I looked at some things the coaches have been telling me, what they might have seen in my shot. Maybe I was leaning back too much when I get my feet set. So I just listened to them and continued working my shot.”

For coach Tom Izzo, it was a simple piece of advice.

“We had a couple meetings just to say, ‘Hey, loosen up,’” Izzo said.

Well, the extra work and the bit of advice all came together on Sunday night as Hauser scored a career-high 24 points, hitting six 3-pointers to lead No. 8 Michigan State to a 79-61 victory over Western Michigan at the Breslin Center.

“I think it’s just confidence,” said Hauser, whose previous career-high of 21 came in January 2019 at Marquette. “The first couple games, I missed some outside shots and I wasn't shooting quite as much from the outside. It took me a while to kind of get in game rhythm shooting the ball. I knew it was going to take a couple games because I hadn't played in such a long time, but I think huge credit goes to my teammates. They continuously kept finding me and they've had faith in me even though I've missed a couple shots these first couple games. They had faith in me and told me just keep shooting, so I think that was a huge part of why I knocked down a couple shots tonight.”

Hauser also grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double in five games for the Spartans (5-0).

“Joey had a hell of a day,” Izzo said. “I was on him hard the last game and I did it on purpose. I just want to see how he handled it. And man, he handled it good and even had a sore knee today and I thought played his tail off. And it really impressed me the second half because he wasn't very good defensively first half either, and he was really good in the second half.”

Aaron Henry added 12 points and Rocket Watts chipped in 10 for the Spartans, who travel to Virginia on Wednesday to take on the Cavaliers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

B. Artis White scored 19 points to lead Western Michigan (0-2) with Titus Wright scoring 16 and grabbing 10 rebounds for the Broncos. Western Michigan had its last two games canceled and was missing two starters because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

 “It’s been a crazy, wild week with our team,” WMU coach Clayton Bates said. “Our guys battled through adversity and competed as well as they did against Michigan State, so we’re incredibly proud.”

After a sloppy first half that saw Michigan State take a 39-35 lead to the locker room, the Spartans had a far better start to the second half, getting a 3-pointer from Hauser followed by a pair of dunks from Marcus Bingham. When Henry hit a jumper from the free-throw line, the Spartans were up, 52-41, with 15:30 to play.

Just as quickly as it looked like the Spartans were taking over, however, they turned the ball over on four straight possessions as the Broncos scored seven in a row to pull within 52-48. Michigan State committed two more turnovers but managed to push the lead to 59-52 after a Hauser 3 and some misses from the Broncos.

“We finally kind of extended a lead there,” Hauser said. “They were hanging around, hanging around and we just kept talking that we wanted to extend that lead and I think we're really picked it up we just started moving the ball better. We were getting the assisted buckets, which really helped us big time, and stepping up on the defensive end.

After a jumper from Josiah Freeman pulled Western Michigan within five, Michigan State ripped off a 14-2 run to essentially put the game away with Hauser hitting three of his 3-pointers in that stretch.

“Joey is a great player and is fun to play with,” Watts said. “I feel like he’ll make it every time I pass it to him. He has great confidence in himself and I’m gonna keep swinging the ball to him and he’s gonna keep knocking his shot down.”

Henry doesn't start

Henry, one of three team captains, did not start on Sunday after being late for a team meeting. Henry was replaced in the starting lineup by junior Gabe Brown but checked in with 15:35 to play in the opening half.

After the game, both Henry and Izzo downplayed the incident, saying it was a minor issue and Izzo admired the way Henry handled things.

“I'm not even worried about it this much,” Izzo said, holding his fingers close together. “Aaron Henry's been my favorite guy this year, and he will remain that way.”

Added Henry: “There's no excuse. But here we hold people accountable and it is what it is. I'm not trippin', coach is not trippin'. Everything is good.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau