Michigan State Basketball defeated arguably the best Big Ten team last night in the Iowa Hawkeyes. Cassius Winston led the Spartans to a 78-70 victory at the Breslin Center. In this same game, Xavier Tillman became MSU’s all-time leader in blocks.
Here are three key takeaways from this game:
1. Stop Sleeping On Cassius Winston
For some reason, I feel like Cassius Winston is underrated. There was so much hype on Luka Garza as the best Big Ten player. Some even put Garza onto the national stage as the best NCAA player this season. Cassius Winston’s performance last night obviously warrants a debate.
Luka Garza was locked down in the second half while Winston erupted for 19 second-half points. Cassius didn’t put up unimpressive 19 points either. Instead, he left Iowa defenders in his dust while driving to the basketball. At one point, Winston hit a fadeaway corner three-pointer. He took control of this game and made everything look so easy.
2. Xavier Tillman Sr. Is The Best Big Ten Defender
As mentioned earlier, Tillman became the all-time leader in blocks at Michigan State. He also completely locked up Luka Garza in the process. Tillman held Garza to only eight second-half points. Late in the game, Tillman had a critical block on Garza as well.
Let’s put this defensive performance against Garza into perspective. No other team has kept Garza to 20 points or less since Nebraska on January 1. Tillman deserves every single bit of praise available. Even Izzo spoke on Xavier being the best defender in the Big Ten.
3. Rocket Watts & Aaron Henry Provide Scoring Boost
Rocket Watts scored 21 points last night, matching his career-high total from the Illinois game a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Aaron Henry put up a season-high of 17 points. Aaron Henry, Rocket Watts, Gabe Brown, & Kyle Ahrens are all incredibly important to a deep NCAA tournament. MSU needs two or more of these players contributing at least 15 points a game. Luckily, Watts & Henry stepped up to the plate against Iowa.
The Spartans are back in action again this upcoming Saturday at 8 P.M. on ESPN.
