On Saturday the Michigan State Spartans and Baylor Bears met at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit for a non-conference battle.
Coming into the game Baylor was undefeated at 9-0 and No. 6 in the Coaches poll, while Michigan State was 4-5 and had not received a single vote in the latest poll, despite being ranked No. 4 in the preseason.
You’d be forgiven for thinking those roles were reversed after the Spartans jumped out to a 45-17 halftime lead and coasted to an easy 88-64 win, securing their biggest margin of victory over a top 10 ranked opponent in program history.
“It was a step in the right direction,” coach Tom Izzo said after the game. “It shows you what we can be against a very, very good team.”
Spartans guard Tyson Walker finished with 25 points including 18 in the first half – literally outscoring the No.4 ranked offense in the entire country (per KenPom) by himself.
Is this the marquee win Izzo and the Spartans need to get their act together and become that top-five caliber team they were billed as in the preseason?
“We aren’t giving up on ourselves,” Izzo said. “We’re not dead yet.”
If this is the turnaround point for Michigan State, it likely means this team will be much better at shooting the deep ball going forward – an area they massively struggled to begin the campaign but went 8-12 (66.7%) on Saturday.
The Spartans host Oakland on Monday evening, followed by Stony Brook on December 21 and Indiana State to close out the year on December 30.
A trio of relatively easy non-conference games could keep the momentum going for Michigan State heading into Big Ten play, where they remain a strong contender to finish in the top five even after dropping their first two league games to Wisconsin and Nebraska.