Muscular Xavier Booker set for bigger role in second season

HOLT — Xavier Booker showed just a glimpse of his potential as he adjusted to college basketball during his freshman season at Michigan State last winter.

A now-muscular Booker is preparing for a much larger role as a sophomore.

“I’ve always been pretty talented and I knew I was capable of doing great things, but now I feel more capable with a year under my belt,” Booker said this week at the Moneyball Pro-Am at Holt High School.

Booker entered last season as a 6-foot-2, 210-pound forward who wasn’t quite ready for the physicality of big-time college play. As the season went on, MSU coach Tom Izzo continued to build confidence in him, increasing his minutes and even starting the freshman in two games late in the season.

Booker’s impact has been a fraction of what many ultimately expect from the five-star recruit out of Indianapolis. He’s averaged 3.7 points and 1.6 rebounds in 9.3 minutes per game overall, but he’s played more than 10 minutes in seven of the last eight games, scoring a season-high 11 points on the road against Purdue.

Now, with the departures of starting power forward Malik Hall and starting center Mady Sissoko, Booker will be considered a primary interior player with expected improvements in rebounding and defense. Booker looks like the player ready to be a starting post player in the Big Ten this summer in Moneyball. He’s up to 242 pounds, with the added weight to help hold up.

“I’m working on all aspects of my game, but I’m really trying to learn how to use the weight I’ve gained, stay lower and score better in the post,” Booker said. “I feel good and it’s been a journey so far. Now that I’ve gained weight, I just have to learn how to use it, turn it to my advantage.”

Of course, carrying his weight inside is just one aspect of Booker’s game. His ability to stretch the floor with his 3-point shots is a big part of why he was such a highly ranked recruit. That skill was immediately evident at MSU as he finished with 16 3-pointers made in his limited playing time while shooting 33 percent.

Through three games at Moneyball, Booker has looked more comfortable than ever shooting from three-point range. He has made 12 total three-pointers, including seven in his win over Team Motocars on Tuesday night, hitting them both as a spot-up shooter and in transition. Only MSU newcomer Frankie Fidler, a transfer from Omaha, has made more three-pointers so far.

With five new players on MSU’s roster for the upcoming season, Booker, even as a sophomore, has felt his leadership role growing. He said the Spartans have a good understanding of each other despite their short time together.

“We’re getting along well, guys are adjusting and I think it’s going to be a great year for us,” Booker said. “It’s fun to see who we are as a team right off the bat and we’re going to continue to get better.”

Booker’s entire class will have to do a lot more for the Spartans this winter. Fellow sophomores Jeremy Fears, Coen Carr and Gehrig Normand should all have bigger roles.

“We’ve all matured a lot and we understand now what it takes to be good,” Normand said. “We’ve invested time to understand the college game and we’ve realized what it takes to win a national championship and all those great things. Book has improved his shooting, for sure. It’s fun to improve with them and see improvements like that.”

Contact Nathaniel Bott at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Nathaniel_Bott