EVANSTON, Ill. -- The first Big Ten road win of the 2019-20 season didn’t feel much like a road win.
The Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd changed "Go Green, Go White" in the closing minute of Michigan State's 77-72 win here on Wednesday night. A half full venue had as much green as purple.
After Big Ten teams started 0-13 on the road in league games this season, though, Michigan State will take the conference’s first road win, no matter how it felt.
“We pride ourselves on winning championships,” Spartans point guard Cassius Winston said. “To have that kind of head start, to be the first team to get a road win against a really good team…to come in and get that game, that’s big for us.”
The win moved Michigan State to 2-0 in Big Ten play, a game ahead of the 12 teams tied for second place at 1-1.
That fact sends the Spartans back home happy, if not exactly ecstatic.
"We got the win, that makes us 2-0, but you know what, when I go home Christmas, it'll be no rings or banners under the tree for 2-0. It's just a nice start," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said.
A third of the way through its season, Michigan State finds itself mostly happy with its recent play, after three straight wins following a 5-3 start, yet still aware that it's far from a finished product.
Wednesday, like most of the season, provided plenty to be happy about and plenty to be unhappy about.
The Spartans were strong on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 48-24, with 14 offensive boards. Izzo said he was particularly pleased with the 18 combined rebounds from his two starting wings, Gabe Brown and Aaron Henry.
Yet the Spartans also turned the ball over 16 times and gave up 24 points off of those turnovers. A team that has been better than its recent predecessors in ball control regressed on Wednesday night.
"You're not going to be any good if you keep doing that," Izzo said.
The Spartans got strong games from two of their top three players: Cassius Winston (21 points, six assists) and Xavier Tillman (15 points, 10 rebounds). But Wednesday saw another offensive struggle for Aaron Henry, who was 1-for-9 from the field with six turnovers.
"It was one of those days for any basketball player that you go through, when you can't hit a shot, when you turn the ball over," Henry said. "Just couldn’t do anything."
Izzo, though, was complimentary of how well Henry continued to rebound and defend despite his offensive struggles and said his shot selection was good.
Winston said he was happy to get the win but also not satisfied with his team’s consistency.
“We made some huge runs, we made some plays and then we let it slip away like that," Winston said, snapping his fingers. "We can’t do that if we want to be a really, really good team. I think we’re a good team, we’ve got all the pieces, and we show it, we show long glimpses of it, and then we have moments where we kind of slip up and give it away.”
If Michigan State ends the season atop the standings, it knows it will likely look far different than it does now. That will be in part because the team is set to work shooting guard Rocket Watts back into the playing rotation, possibly as soon as Saturday when Michigan State plays against Eastern Michigan, but also because staying at the top of the standings will require continual evolving.
“We got off to a decent start, but we’ve got a long way to go if we’re going to be the team that we need to be,” Izzo said.
"Happy" - Google News
December 19, 2019 at 12:00PM
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Michigan State happy with 2-0 Big Ten start but knows there’s a long way to go - MLive.com
"Happy" - Google News
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