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In this current age of college basketball, it’s rare to see a pair of opposing players face one another for multiple seasons, especially high-level players.
However, in the past four years, point guards Zavier Simpson and Cassius Winston have done battle in one of the top rivalries of the sport.
Both have been their program’s starting point guard in each of the past three seasons. As starters, Simpson and Winston have faced one another seven times, with the Spartan holding a slight edge over the Wolverine with a record of 4-3.
It should come as no surprise that oftentimes the outcome of the Michigan-Michigan State game has been determined by which point guard outplays the other.
On Saturday at the Crisler Center, in what may be their final showdown, Simpson outplayed Winston to lead the Wolverines to a 77-68 victory.
The Wolverine senior finished with 16 points, and stepped up in a big way from the three-point line by knocking down 4-of-7 attempts from deep. Simpson also handed out 8 assists and grabbed four rebounds.
“Zavier made some tough shots, but he was open,” said Michigan coach Juwan Howard. “Those are shots that he’s practiced. Those are shots that he’s come in on off days (to) shoot. It’s good to see that during the game he was confident.”
It was clear that Tom Izzo and the Spartans were comfortable allowing Simpson to shoot from outside, as they went below ball screens and often sagged off the senior defensively. It’s a strategy that several teams have utilized against Simpson this season, but the senior made the Spartans pay for it on Saturday.
“Some guys hit some shots that weren’t supposed to,” Izzo said. “Simpson goes 4-for-7 from the three. He hasn’t done that in weeks. That’s — give him credit. He’s a competitive kid.”
Winston, meanwhile, had a poor shooting performance at the Crisler Center on Saturday. The Spartan senior finished with 20 points, but connected on just 5-of-18 attempts from the field and 3-of-8 shots from beyond the three-point line.
A lot of credit should go to Michigan’s Eli Brooks, who defended Winston for the majority of the contest.
“Yes sir, he did a very good job defensively on Cassius,” Howard said of Brooks. “I just wanted to give [Winston] a different look. I knew Eli … defensively he’s a very disciplined player, very technical, not gonna make many mistakes. I thought he did a really good job of staying in front of Cassius, making every catch tough for him as well as every shot, challenging every shot without fouling. There was one shot where we did foul him on the three-point line and he had three free throws. That’s unacceptable. But I like the fact of how we responded from there.”
The free throw line is where Winston has truly burned the Wolverines throughout his career. The Spartan was 7-for-7 from the line on Saturday, bumping him to 48-of-53 (90.6 percent) from the charity stripe as a starter against Michigan. He holds a massive edge over Simpson in that department, as the Wolverine has converted just 17-of-30 chances at the foul line against the Spartans.
In a truly shocking stat however, Simpson (9-of-30) has shot the ball better from three than Winston (8-of-30) in their seven starts against one another. In addition, Simpson had 8 steals and 11 turnovers in those games, while Winston had 6 steals and 21 turnovers.
However, where the Spartan has held the advantage is his overall impact on the offensive end of the floor. Winston has averaged 20.3 points on 42.3 percent shooting and 6.9 assist per game as a starter against the Wolverines. Simpson’s numbers aren’t as sparkling at 13.1 points (38.8 percent shooting) and 5.7 assists per game.
As mentioned above, Simpson’s three-point shooting very well could have been the difference in the game for the Wolverines on Saturday. In his three wins versus Michigan State, Simpson has shot 54.5 percent from deep (6-of-11). In Michigan’s four losses to MSU with Simpson starting at point guard, the senior has shot a lowly 15.8 percent from distance (3-of-19).
Personal matchups like Zavier Simpson versus Cassius Winston are rarer now than they have ever been before in college basketball. The growing culture change of the sport, which sees players jump to the next level quicker than ever before, has led to fewer classical showdowns between rival players.
Due to this fact, fans of both the Wolverines and the Spartans should appreciate what they’ve been able to witness from these opposing players over the course of the last few seasons. One side may not like the guy on the opposing side all that much, but it’s fair and suitable to give both Simpson and Winston the respect they deserve, especially now that they may never share the court again in their collegiate careers.
