The losses to that team in Ann Arbor always sting a little more. This was yet another Big Ten game for MSU Basketball where they kept fighting from behind and never fully were out of the game, but just couldn’t get it done at the end of the day. Michigan State ultimately dropped this one against Michigan 77-68.
This was one of the worst shooting days of the season for MSU, and you can chalk most of this loss up to that issue. Gabe Brown was 0/5 on the day. Rocket Watts was 3/7. Julius Marble, Foster Loyer, and Marcus Bingham Jr. were a combined 0/6. Xavier Tillman stuffed the stat sheet but was also 0/3 from three.
Most damaging? Cassius Winston was 5/17 on the day. He did manage to go 7/7 at the line but this team is so reliant on Cassius Winston to play like the best player in the country to win basketball games. It’s a flaw of this team, who was expecting to have Joshua Langford next to Winston to carry a lot of the offensive workload.
This was Michigan’s first win over Michigan State since March 3rd, 2018. They were led by Isaiah Livers (14 points) and Zavier Simpson (16 points).
Michigan State will try to bounce back on the road against the new Big Ten leader Illinois on Tuesday, February 11.
