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On Sunday, Michigan State went on the road to face cross-state rival Michigan and got it done in hostile territory, 77-70. Michigan State moved up to 23-5 (14-3 B1G), and Michigan dropped down to 24-4 (13-4 B1G).
The game may of proved to be a big swing in the projected NCAA Tournament bracket, Michigan possibly dropping to a three seed while Michigan State may of moved up to a two seed.
Cassius Winston had a monster night for the Spartans, scoring 27 points and dropping eight dimes. Big fella Kenny Goins had a nice 16 point, 11 rebound double-double and Xavier Tillman added 14 points and five rebounds. Senior captain Matt McQuaid added 13 points and five rebounds.
Michigan State had a seven point lead at one point in the first half that quickly diminished from three-pointers from Zavier Simpson and Ignas Brazdeikis, as well as a Jordan Poole layup.
Simpson played all 40 minutes and led Michigan with 19 points. Brazdeikis had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Poole added 15 points. Jon teske also had a 10 point, 11 rebound double-double, along with a block.
Overall, the first half stayed pretty close, and Michigan State went into the intermission with a 39-37 lead.
it remained close in the first 10 minutes of the second half, too. But then Michigan seemed to run out of steam. Cassius Winston and Kenny Goins each hit jumpers, Tillman hit a layup, Aaron Henry had two free-throws, Cassius Winston had another two, and Tillman threw one down. In that five or so minute span, Michigan only had four points and Michigan State had a seven point lead.
Michigan couldn’t really recover, and had trouble denting into the lead late, but Jordan Poole did hit a three with 33 second left to make it a four point game. But that didn’t matter, Cassius Winston was in the midst of seven straight free-throws, and hit four of them in the last 33 seconds. Kenny Goins also went 1-of-2 from the line, and Zavier Simpson hit a meaningless layup for Michigan with eight seconds left.
Michigan State shot 50 percent on the night, compared to just 40 percent for Michigan. But, Michigan had four more offensive rebounds than Michigan State, leading to second chance points.
Michigan had more fouls and turnovers than Michigan State, as well as outrebounded by two.