With limited options in forwards freshman Nick Ward and redshirt-sophomore Kenny Goins, head coach Tom Izzo has a general understanding of how many minutes each player will play. But when it comes to the wing players, spin the board and throw one out there is what appears to happen at times.

In MSU’s recent loss against Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Izzo made some head-scratching substitutions, which appeared to have a large effect on the team’s output.

Starting hot out of the gate, MSU buried shot after shot from mid-range. The team netted their first six shots, and freshman guard Joshua Langford was in an early rhythm on his birthday after knocking down a triple, hitting a jumper and assisting on baskets by freshman forward Miles Bridges and fifth-year senior Eron Harris.

After just three minutes of play, there was a changed look to the Spartans. Izzo decided to replace Langford with sophomore guard Matt McQuaid and Bridges, who was 2-for-2, with senior guard Alvin Ellis III. Ward and Harris would be subbed out as well, leaving in only junior guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. from the starting lineup.

This starting five set up MSU with a great opportunity to bury the Buckeyes early. Up 12-5, Ellis hit a 3-pointer and all looked well. However, this new group stalled, coughing up a 9-0 run to Ohio State.

Bridges said after the game he was feeling good from the start. Izzo said his plan with Bridges was three to four minute stretches then to have him sit. Izzo continued by saying Bridges still needs time to become fully healthy from his foot injury.

“When I came back in I still had a rhythm, but when the subs come in they have to be hard on defense and not turn the ball over,” Bridges said. “I was feeling comfortable from the jump. I was trying to get stuff going to the basket, I hit a lot of threes so that meant they’re going to come out and guard me so I can get past them, so I was trying to get to the basket and get easy points.”

Some transparency from Izzo checks Bridges off of the list, but as the season rages on, the Spartans still struggle to find themselves in big games and road games.

At the top of their media guide, there is a section labeled “You don’t want to miss this.” In this section, there are always two statistics that generally show an impressive statistic from someone on the team.

For example, the guide before Ohio State said, “Nick Ward leads the Big Ten in blocks per game (3.2) in conference games and his 41 rejections on the season are already the second most ever by a Spartan freshman. Eleven Spartans average more than nine minutes per game, while nine players have played in all 18 games and MSU gets 31.7 points per game off the bench.”

Ward’s shot blocking so far this season has been impressive, but the second part doesn’t sound like cause for celebration.

With 11 players playing almost a quarter of the entire game, this limits MSU from gaining cohesion on the court and doesn’t allow players to make a mistake and recover, nor allow them to feel out the opponent. The bench points come with the territory of the revolving door lineup.

“I’ll take all the blame for the substitution, but there’s some of it that’s a reason for it and some of it is what we do,” Izzo said.

If MSU wants to gain a true identity, Izzo will need to limit minutes from several players and stick to lineups that show more promise than others. Guys like Ellis, McQuaid, fifth-year senior forward Matt Van Dyk and sophomore guard Kyle Ahrens should be on the lookout for potential restrictions.

Although they might have highlights here and there, the core of the team is being limited in reaching its potential.

“It’s just going to have to come from within,” Langford said. “Because coach Izzo says, ‘A player-coached team is better than a coach-coached team,’ so it’s going to be something that the players have to come in together, and we have to internalize within ourselves and within the team.”

The team might want to be player-led, however, the upperclassmen leadership paired with the freshman talent and output haven’t blended yet. As Bridges and Ward command the point scoring and Winston leads in the assist category, it's hard for the freshmen to be reigned down by upperclassmen when they haven’t been as productive.

Until the coach-coached team has the ability to be player-coached, the consistency issue will carry forward.