Javon Bess to Transfer from Michigan State: Latest Comments and Reaction

The Michigan State Spartans basketball program is still recovering from its shocking first-round defeat at the hands of Middle Tennessee State in the NCAA tournament, and it lost some depth for next season on Monday.

According to Kyle Austin of MLive, forward Javon Bess will transfer this offseason.

The Ohio native looked like he may have turned the corner early in the 2015-16 campaign, as he scored 16 points in the team’s third game of the season and followed it up with 13 points in the next outing. However, that would be the last time he scored in double figures for the rest of the season, and he gradually saw less playing time as the schedule progressed.

He only played seven minutes in the 90-81 loss to the Blue Raiders in the Big Dance.

Bess arrived on campus as a 3-star prospect, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, but struggled through injuries in his first year. Still, he finished with similar numbers in his freshman and sophomore campaigns and never made the statistical jump many Spartans fans were looking for in his second season in the program:

Season	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Field-Goal Percentage
2014-15	11.4	2.5	2.7	0.9	0.3	0.2	47.8
2015-16	11.4	3.0	2.4	0.7	0.3	0.2	43.1

Bess is a 6’5” forward who can flash into the lane and attack the basket, but he didn't stretch opposing defenses on the outside at Michigan State and only averaged 0.3 three-point attempts per game in 2015-16.

Interestingly, Austin noted forward Marvin Clark also decided to transfer out of the Michigan State program on Monday. Clark averaged 3.9 points per game this season, but he battled his way back from injury and was a regular in the rotation by March after Kenny Goins went down for the year with a knee injury.

Austin shared a quote from head coach Tom Izzo that took on some more meaning in light of Monday’s news:

In something of a silver lining for Spartans fans, Austin highlighted the fact the transfers created two new scholarships for 2016. 

One potential option to fill one of those openings is shooting guard recruit Josh Jackson. Jackson is a 5-star prospect and the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2016 class, per 247Sports’ composite rankings. Michigan State has a geography advantage with the Detroit native, but 247Sports’ predictions leaned Kansas’ way on Monday (59 percent for the Jayhawks compared to 23 percent for the Spartans and 18 percent for Arizona).

Izzo is one of the best coaches in the country, and his quote indicates Bess’ transfer probably wasn’t all that unexpected. If he can parlay the scholarship opening into an impact player such as Jackson, the Spartans will likely once again be among the upper-echelon teams in the Big Ten in 2016-17.