Xavier Booker shows up after he's finally had enough

LAHAINA, Hawaii – The genesis of Xavier Booker’s performance against North Carolina on Wednesday occurred the night before, as he sat alone with Michigan State assistant coach Saddi Washington in a ballroom at the Sheraton Maui Resort and the two watched the film Booker’s disappearance passed through opportunities to influence games.

“I just saw a lot of opportunities where I could have lined up guys — bigger, smaller, it doesn’t matter,” Booker said shortly after playing an indispensable role in the Spartans’ 94-91 victory over the Tar Heels in their finale had played Maui Invitational. “I saw this movie. I thought I trusted the work I (Washington) did. … So that was my main mentality (on offense) — just posting guys up, even if I don’t get the ball, still just posting up and letting my teammates know I’m there and I want to score down there.”

Booker’s breakthrough night was also rooted in the fact that he was finally fed up – fed up with the people around him doubting him, fed up with giving them reason to doubt.

“I mean, a lot of my coaches and a lot of people question my motor and question how hard I want to work,” he said. “You get to the point where you get tired of hearing it. So that was my goal today: to prove everyone wrong. Because I know I have it in me. I just had to flip the switch.”

Luckily, MSU’s coaches would be wrong. They would flip the switch for him if they could. This stuff has to come from within. Whatever the reason, however, Booker was at a point where he was ready to deliver like he did in the second half and overtime on Wednesday – it was the biggest story of a tremendous victory.

Because a sophomore emergence for Booker — something that seemed unlikely based on the game — would change the face of this MSU basketball team. He has talents his teammates don’t have when it comes to combining length and skill. What he lacked most is aggression.

That’s what he brought to Wednesday – the intent to change the game on every possession, using his body for positioning, rebounding and protecting the rim.

“He looked like a man a few times, didn’t he?” Izzo said as he left the Lahaina Civic Center after a 2-1 week and a third-place finish at the Maui Invitational. “Completely different.”

Booker was so good that he played the last five minutes of regulation and all of overtime – at center, with Coen Carr next to him at power forward. This was MSU’s final lineup in its toughest game last August in Spain. If Booker puts his mind to it, he can handle important minutes at center in many matchups. But he has come to life in Wednesday’s mindset.

Only two of his twelve points (eight in the second half, four in overtime) actually came off a post – on this play he caught the ball at the high post, turned toward the goal and let it fly over a defender with his left hand. But he is right that he regularly tried to get a position and made himself available.

He scored six of his points off offensive rebounds. Four of those were part of his six points in a minute that helped save the Spartans midway through the second half. Two of his offensive rebounds came after he knocked his man to the ground and threw him out of bounds. His first basket of overtime was a terrific possession in which he lined up, didn’t get the ball, ran to the top of the key to set up a screen for Jeremy Fears Jr., rolled out of the ball, caught the pass and scored Step later, he threw himself over a North Carolina defender and put MSU back in the lead.

“I thought he had a big impact on both ends of the floor,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said of Booker. “When we were trying to get to the basket on defense, he deflected a shot when he didn’t block it. I felt like he lived up to his size from an offensive standpoint. I would say he usually drifts out, shoots 3s and did a really good job rolling to the basket. Offensive rebounds, the ability to finish around the basket with his length and athleticism. He caused us problems on both ends of the floor.”

I thought when and if Booker broke out this season, it would start at the 3-point line, where he feels most comfortable. He’s just 2 of 11 from deep this season, but he has a smooth shot and this is his chance. He’s just not doing them at the moment. I assumed at some point he would have a game where he hit three or four 3s and started feeling good.

That’s better. That means he makes a difference by doing the things he didn’t do well, things that weren’t instinctive.

“I wanted to impact the game in a different way than my team needed,” Booker said. “So grabbing the offensive rebounds and then putting them back in, playing in the right spots, playing defense, setting the guys up.”

It’s been a tough start to the season for Booker – and for MSU’s hopes for him. He made significant progress last season, so it was expected that this progress would continue.

“It hasn’t really gone as fast as I wanted it to,” Booker said, “but we still have a long season ahead of us and I feel like today was a big leap in the right direction. “So I just have to keep building on it.”

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Xavier Booker shows up after he’s finally had enough

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