After a rough offensive start to the season, Forbes has shot better than 50 percent overall from the floor in his last five games, and better than 50 percent from beyond the arc in his last four games.

Despite his lights-out shooting, Izzo said there is still progress to be made on the defensive end for Forbes. Izzo acknowledged Forbes has made positive strides in that area.

"He's getting better," Izzo said. "One thing I will say about Bryn — he cares. He comes in, he talks to me about it, he cares, he watches film. Gotta be a little bit more grit, a little more focus, a little more intensity."

Izzo added that he thinks Forbes will make greater defensive strides once the brace is removed from his left hand. Forbes said having the initial brace replaced with a smaller brace earlier this week was a lift for him mentally.

"Without the braces, keeping the small braces has helped a lot," Forbes said. "Not just with my hand, but mentally you're not playing with some bulky brace on your left hand. It feels a lot better."

Izzo compared Forbes' situation to that of NBA great George Gervin, who Izzo once conversed about with an unnamed coach. Though Gervin wasn't always a great defender and frequently gave up a lot of points to the opposing man, more often than not, he outscored his man, according to the coach. 

The Spartans still lack depth at the wing positions with sophomore guard Alvin Ellis III finding his legs after an injury and freshman guard Javon Bess out for at least another week.

In the meantime, Izzo will depend on Forbes to find his way on defense.

"The closer he gets to getting the hand stuff off and everything back and gets some practice, I think that will help," Izzo said. "I think he really struggled with it when he was playing with the cast and I think it's carried over a little bit. I wouldn't say he was awful, I just wouldn't say he's as good as we have to have him if we're going to be good. We just don't have many subs in that back court."