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It’s a great day to be a Spartan! On a very rare Saturday that featured both the Michigan State Football and Basketball teams playing on the same day in East Lansing, both teams picked up nice wins at home.
The football team started the day off by upsetting Northwestern 29-20. The basketball team followed suit shortly after that by beating Notre Dame 80-70. The final score was closer than the game actually was as the Spartans were in control for nearly the entire contest.
Here are a few of my first reactions to the blowout win by the Spartans:
- Aaron Henry is playing like the star he can be: He had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks and a steal. He was extremely aggressive on both sides of the court, and when Henry is aggressive, he can be one of the best players in college basketball.
- Joshua Langford is actually back: It’s still hard to believe, but Joshua Langford is actually back and looking healthy. I’m still extremely nervous about jinxing him but he is looking athletic and aggressive on the court, which is a great sign.
- Rocket Watts is already getting his groove back: Watts didn’t look great for stretches in MSU’s season opener against Eastern Michigan, but he looked great tonight, racking up 13 points and 6 assists. He shot 60% from three as well, which is awesome to see. We recently found out that he was dealing with a knee bruise, which might explain why Foster Loyer was able to earn the starting role, but he didn’t show many signs of injury tonight.
- Marcus Bingham makes case for starting job: For this team to hit their potential, Marcus Bingham had to assert himself and take the starting role from Thomas Kithier. I can’t think of a better way for him to have done that than his performance tonight. He ended up with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, 1 steal, and was +19 on the night, good for the second-best plus-minus on the team.
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