Did you forget about Michigan State? You know, one of the signature programs of modern college basketball, with a Hall of Fame coach? The team picked by many to win the Big Ten and contend for a national title this season?
Don’t worry, you’re probably not alone. And while reminding everyone that they haven’t gone away is surely not a motivator, the Spartans did that on Sunday when they went to Michigan and beat the Wolverines 77-70 to go a half game up in the Big Ten standings.
Michigan has won games more with defense this season, although John Beilein’s teams there have always been underrated at that end of the floor. On Sunday, Michigan State shot 50 percent from the floor and turned the ball over just six times. They were the defensive team of the day, holding the Wolverines below 40 percent from the field.
Cassius Winston has been the star performer and the barometer of this team. His play in some of their losses, including a couple during the three-game losing streak that helped drop this team off the radar before their current five-game winning streak, probably infuriated Tom Izzo at times. But he’s also played often like the best player not named Carsen Edwards in the Big Ten, including on Sunday. Far from his nine-turnover showing in their last loss at Illinois, the junior point guard had 27 points on 7-13 shooting on Sunday and handed out eight assists. He had very similar numbers against Rutgers on Wednesday.
He had plenty of help, though a lot came from Kenny Goins, who had his second double-double in three games with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Xavier Tillman (14 points) continues to break out with a larger role in his sophomore season, and Matt McQuaid (13) hit a couple of three-pointers at key junctures to give them the lead.
The biggest thing they did, though, is not let Charles Matthews get going for Michigan. He was just 1-8 from the field and missed both of his three-point attempts. They forced guys like Jordan Poole (15 points on 5-13 from the field) and Zavier Simpson (19 points on 7-15) to beat them instead, as they took almost half of the Wolverines’ shots.
It’s been easy to forget about Michigan State in part because injuries have seemingly lowered their ceiling. Joshua Langford is out for the season with a foot injury before Big Ten play got going in earnest and Nick Ward is sidelined with a broken hand, and those are key pieces for this team. Langford was their second-leading scorer and was shooting 40 percent from long range and Ward is right there in scoring and their big inside presence.
Through all of this, the Spartans appear to be in a good place. They are tied in the loss column with Purdue, with whom they split the season series, and they are off until Saturday when they play their last road game of the season at Indiana. They still finish the regular season with the Wolverines, but they could certainly enter that game in position to claim a regular season Big Ten title and a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.
In case you had forgotten about this team, this is about what was expected of them. And Tom Izzo knows how to win games in the month of March that is right around the corner.
Side Dishes
Although Michigan State won on the road on Sunday, the road is still the great equalizer in conference play for teams who rarely go on the road in non-conference. Villanova is a team that has gone on the road in non-conference, but they finished a three-game road stretch on Sunday going 0 for 3 as they lost 66-54 at Xavier. It’s the first time since the Big East changed over that Villanova has lost three straight conference games, and it doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats, as they come home to host Marquette on Wednesday night. With Marquette leading by two games in the loss column, the Wildcats no longer control their own destiny with regard to the top seed in the Big East Tournament.
A team that went on the road and really needed a win to not have another hit on their NCAA Tournament resume is Minnesota, who battled valiantly at Rutgers but blew a halftime lead en route to a 68-64 loss. The Golden Gophers are now 7-10 in Big Ten play, just a game ahead of the Scarlet Knights.
The MAAC continues to be up for grabs, and a weekend of action didn’t change that. Iona now leads the way after getting 30 points from Rickey McGill to beat Canisius 87-80 in New Rochelle. The Gaels have the slimmest of leads, though, as it’s only in the win column and by one. Canisius is one of four teams tied at 10-6 right behind the 11-6 Gaels, with Quinnipiac (68-56 winners at Monmouth on Sunday) and Siena (67-55 winners over Marist) joining them along with Rider, who will host the Gaels in Iona’s regular season finale on Friday night.
The Missouri Valley continues to rival the MAAC, as they have three teams tied for first, another team just a game back and three more teams two games back, meaning two games separates first from seventh. Two teams had a chance to break away from Missouri State at the top, but Drake lost 67-60 at Illinois State and Loyola-Chicago came up short at Southern Illinois 63-53. Ironically, the two winners are among the teams tied at 8-8, two games back.
A few games go down as “taking care of business.” NC State took care of Wake Forest 94-74 in Raleigh, while Arizona State needed to rally from a halftime deficit to beat Cal 69-59 and keep the Golden Bears winless in Pac-12 play. Cincinnati kept pace with Houston by going to UConn and edging the Huskies 64-60, and that also keeps them two games up on UCF (who annihilated SMU 95-48 in Orlando on Sunday behind 23 points and 20 rebounds from Tacko Fall) and Temple, who are tied for third.
There was a tie for first in the Patriot League to start the day, but that wasn’t the case when the day was over. Bucknell ran away from Lafayette 118-76 in Lewisburg, largely on the heels of a school record 21 three-pointers, while Holy Cross went to Lehigh and edged the Mountain Hawks 73-71. The loss actually drops the Mountain Hawks into a tie for second with Colgate at 11-5.
The Southern Conference regular season title is out of reach, but UNC Greensboro clinched at least a tie for the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament by edging East Tennessee State 60-59 in overtime on a late three-pointer by Francis Alonso, who is now 19 points shy of 2,000 for his career.
Rhode Island assistant coach John Carroll has been hospitalized in Burlington, Mass. The school put out a release on Sunday after the first-year assistant traveled to Richmond with the team but was not on the bench during their loss to VCU, and he was not with the team during Friday night’s home loss to Davidson. His son, Austin, is the assistant director of basketball operations for Arizona, and he missed the Wildcats’ win over Stanford on Sunday as he traveled to Massachusetts to be with John.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s a typically light Monday night in the number of games, and the most important ones come later.
- Florida State tries to rebound from Saturday’s loss in Chapel Hill as they host Notre Dame (7 p.m.)
- In Atlantic Sun action, NJIT travels to Lipscomb (7:30 p.m.)
- A busy slate in the MEAC is highlighted by North Carolina A&T hosting Savannah State (7:30 p.m.)
- Oklahoma has another quality win opportunity as they travel to Iowa State (8 p.m.)
- The SWAC also has a busy slate, highlighted by Prairie View A&M hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8:30 p.m.)
- A showdown in the Big Sky is on tap as Montana hosts Northern Colorado (9 p.m.)
- The most important game of them all on the night is Kansas hosting Kansas State (9 p.m.), with the Jayhawks needing every win they can get and a little help to keep their Big 12 title streak alive.
