Defense: D
Michigan State made it a point of emphasis on offense in getting the basketball down low as often as possible throughout the game.
That point became clear early as eight of Michigan State’s first 12 points came in the paint. Once Wisconsin was able to adjust to it, it left the Spartans the opportunity of creating open looks from three as their next nine points were the product of three made three’s.
Gabe Brown was responsible for two of those made three’s and Aaron Henry knocked down the other as both finished with 13 points, which tied for second on the team. Brown went a perfect 5-for-5 on his shot attempts while Henry made half of his 10 field goal attempts.
Xavier Tillman led Michigan State in scoring with 15 points he also led the team with nine rebounds and tied for the team lead in assists with Cassius Winston with four.
With Michigan State registering 38 of their 67 points in the paint it helped open up other opportunities for Michigan State’s offense as the Badgers frontcourt couldn’t consistently keep the Spartans out of the lane. As the Spartans did a really good job of spacing the floor against Wisconsin’s defense as they went 6-for-16 from three.
Wisconsin was able to hold Winston to six points on 3-for-12 shooting from the field. It marked the third time Winston has been held to single digits in scoring this season and the first over conference play. But Winston is also a talented passer and with the offensive talent that surrounds him, he’s more than capable of setting his teammates up for success.
Winston finished the game with four assists giving him 817 assists in his career as he passed former Michigan State great Mateen Cleaves (816 career assists) to become the Big Ten’s all-time assists leader.
It wasn’t just Winston doing well of working the basketball around in order to create an open shot as Michigan State registered 20 assists on their 27 made field goals. Michigan State finished the game 27-for-58 (46.6 percent) from the field.