LAHAINA, Hawaii _ It was a chance for Tom Izzo to experiment with starters and playing groups, using the bench as a teaching tool.
The one constant remains Cassius Winston.
Michigan State's senior All-American took a measured, almost surgical approach to dissecting UCLA on Wednesday to showcase himself one final time at the Maui Invitational.
Slicing into the paint and scoring in traffic.
Deep 3-pointers off a dribble move and in transition.
Using the added attention to set up his teammates for easy buckets.
Winston finished with 20 points and four assists, and the third-ranked Spartans finished up in Maui with a 75-62 victory over the Bruins in the in the fifth-place game of the tournament.
When they get back to the mainland, things don't get any easier: No. 1 Duke is on the clock.
The Blue Devils (6-1) won't be in the top spot, though, when they visit Breslin Center on Tuesday (9:30 p.m., ESPN). An overtime home loss to Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday night took care of that. And MSU (5-2) won't be in the top two, either, after losing Monday to Virginia Tech here at Lahaina Civic Center.
That won't dampen the anticipation and energy of Duke's second visit ever to East Lansing, the first since Dec. 3, 2003. The Spartans beat the Blue Devils in the Elite Eight in March to advance to Tom Izzo's eighth Final Four.
The trip to Hawaii allowed Izzo to move some parts around and find out about his team.
He started Marcus Bingham for the second straight game at forward instead of Thomas Kithier, then gave Gabe Brown the nod on the wing at the outset of the second half over Aaron Henry. Julius Marble did some good things in a long first-half stretch, crashing the boards.
In the first half, Winston, Henry and Xavier Tillman combined for 19 of MSU's 24 shots and 21 of the Spartans' 26 points as they went to the locker room with a three-point lead. Winston had 10 at halftime, including a pair of in-rhythm 3-pointers late in the period.
MSU built its lead to as many as 15 in the second half against the Bruins (5-3), who had four players in double figures but none over 11.
Tillman finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting but continued to struggle to finish around the rim. He also had seven rebounds.
Rocket Watts finished strong, scoring eight of his 12 points in the final 10-plus minutes. The Spartans shot 46% for the game and nearly 54% in the second half.
