‘Mature beyond his years’: Inside Jase Richardson’s historic freshman campaign

Last Wednesday night, during a rugged road win over Maryland that will forever be remembered as the night when Tre Holloman swished a half-court heave at the buzzer, there came a moment in the second half that more appropriately contextualized the 58-55 win within the broader strokes of Michigan State’s season. Six minutes and change remained when combo guard Jase Richardson wriggled right, then left, around a perimeter ball screen from center Szymon Zapala on the right wing. Richardson sliced into the lane with a left-handed dribble and floated between two defenders for an acrobatic layup that extended the Spartans’ lead to five.

As the ball fell through the net, a wide-angled view from Big Ten Network captured the reaction from Michigan State’s bench along that same end of the court. Rising to his feet in neon pink sneakers was shooting guard Jaden Akins, celebrating the nifty finish by extending one arm toward the sky.

“Jase did an unbelievable job there in a couple of those stretches,” head coach Tom Izzo said in his postgame news conference following the Spartans’ third consecutive victory over a ranked opponent, inching them closer to another Big Ten title. Richardson finished with team-highs of 15 points and eight rebounds in a game when nobody else from Michigan State reached double figures in scoring.

The juxtaposition of Richardson, a freshman, scoring the critical basket while Akins, a senior, watched from the sideline was in keeping with the metamorphosis Izzo’s team has undergone the last few months, and a reminder of why the Spartans have legitimate Final Four potential. This season was supposed to belong to Akins, who flirted with entering the NBA Draft, after veteran guards Tyson Walker and AJ Hoggard moved on from Michigan State. The former four-star prospect from Farmington, Michigan, had performed quite well as a multi-year third fiddle in three-guard lineups. Now, in 2024-25, he was expected to claim the leading role for a team picked to finish fifth (one first-place vote) in the Big Ten Preseason Media Poll.

But from mid-January through early March, when he finally exploded for 19 points in a critical win over then-No. 11 Wisconsin last weekend, Akins labored through a prolonged stretch of inconsistent 3-point shooting (12-for-47, 25.5%) and uneven playmaking (13 assists, 11 turnovers) that invited questions about how far Michigan State could realistically advance in the NCAA Tournament. And that’s when Richardson, who turned 19 in October, seized control of the team with an enthralling combination of gutsy shot-making, an air-tight handle and the unwavering fearlessness that every lead guard needs, refueling expectations for a potential run to the Final Four. He’s averaging 16 points per game over his last seven contests — usurping Holloman’s place in the starting lineup along the way — and is on pace to become just the 10th true freshman to average double-figure scoring since Izzo took over the program 30 years ago.

“I don’t think he gets nervous,” Izzo said after Richardson poured in 21 points during a 75-62 road win over then-No. 12 Michigan on Feb. 21. “If Michael [Jordan], Larry [Bird] and Magic [Johnson] came back, I don’t think it would bother him. I’m not saying he can do everything, but he’s so mature beyond his years.”

Michigan State’s Jase Richardson makes nasty spin move and finishes with layup to extend lead against Michigan

Of course, Richardson is best known for being the son of former Michigan State standout Jason Richardson, a sky-walking shooting guard from Saginaw, Michigan, who helped the Spartans win a national championship as a true freshman in 2000 and later vaulted to the NBA following a standout sophomore season in which he averaged 14.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists to earn consensus second-team All-America honors. The elder Richardson (6-foot-6, 225 pounds) was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Golden State Warriors to kickstart a 15-year run spanning five different franchises. Twice he won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, in 2002 and 2003, and retired with a career scoring mark of 17.1 points per game. Now Richardson frequents the Breslin Center to watch his son star for the Spartans. 

Jase Richardson, who is listed at 6-feet-3 and 185 pounds, was a four-star prospect and the No. 32 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle. He split his high school career between Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas and Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Florida, where Richardson earned first-team all-state honors as a senior. The recruitment boiled down to Cincinnati, Alabama and Michigan State, with the Richardson family taking official visits to all three. By joining his father’s alma mater, Richardson became the highest-rated player in Izzo’s recruiting class and the 11th-best prospect the Spartans have signed in the recruiting rankings era, according to 247Sports.

“Obviously, he comes from some pretty good genes, right?” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said after Richardson scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists against the Badgers. “Stock is pretty good with his dad. He’s listening to Coach Izzo, you know? … And for a young man like Jase to come in here and come in with more questions than answers, and take coaching like he has, I think as a coach, you appreciate that, and I’m sure Tom [Izzo] appreciates it. And it shows with how Jase has played.”

How he’s played is in keeping with some of the best rookie scorers the program has ever seen under Izzo, whose tenure began ahead of the 1995-96 campaign. Since then, only nine freshmen have gone on to average at least 10 points per game over the course of an entire debut season at Michigan State, a club so exclusive that even Richardson’s talented father came nowhere close to joining. Richardson, who is shooting 52% from the field and 39.2% from 3-point range, will become the 10th such player. Here’s a look at the complete list: 

• Mateen Cleaves, 10.2 points per game, 1996-97
• Zach Randolph, 10.8 points per game, 2000-01
• Chris Hill, 11.5 points per game, 2001-02
• Raymar Morgan, 11.7 points per game, 2006-07
• Kalin Lucas, 10.3 points per game, 2007-08
• Gary Harris, 12.9 points per game, 2012-13
• Nick Ward, 13.9 points per game, 2016-17
• Jaren Jackson, 10.9 points per game, 2017-18
• Jase Richardson, 11 points per game, 2024-25

And while advanced metrics aren’t available for the seasons in which Cleaves and Randolph reached double-figure scoring as freshmen, the KenPom data surrounding everyone else offers a window into just how unique Richardson’s production has been. His offensive rating of 130.5 is higher than any other player on the list, with Hill’s rating of 120 coming closest. His effective field goal percentage of 59.1%, which lends extra weight to 3-pointers, is tied with Ward for third behind Hill (61.7%) and Jackson (59.5%). That Richardson has done all that while maintaining the lowest usage rate (18.4% of possessions) of anybody else from this select group underscores his remarkable efficiency. Hill, who used 19.3% of possessions during his rookie year, is the only other standout freshman scorer to maintain a usage rate below 21%, with Morgan, Lucas, Ward and Bridges all above 25%. 

More important than any of that, however, might be Richardson’s willingness to step forward in big moments, to eschew his relative inexperience and bury shots when Michigan State really needs them, toying with defenders off the dribble or splashing from beyond the arc. He poured in 29 points during a comeback win over Oregon after the Spartans yielded 50 points in the first half. He tied a season-high with three 3-pointers in Sunday’s win over Wisconsin, considered by some to be the second-best team in the conference. He averaged 18 points per game in road wins over Maryland and then-No. 12 Michigan to ensure Izzo’s team remained atop the Big Ten standings.   

And now, Richardson will carry Michigan State into March. 

“When you get into games like this,” Richardson said after knocking off the Wolverines, “it’s a confidence factor. If you don’t go into these games confident, then you’re not going to make the plays that you really need to make. Every game I try to come in as confident as possible, try to believe in myself, because I know my teammates are going to trust in me to make plays.”

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!

FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience

College Basketball

Michigan State Spartans

Jase Richardson

Get more from College Basketball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more