#14 Spartans Take Out Wisconsin 67-55 On Cassius Winston's Magical Night
Breslin Center
East Lansing, MI
The #14 Michigan State Spartans got back to their traditional winning ways tonight dropping the Wisconsin Badgers 67-55. The win restores the men in green’s season record to 14-4 (6-1).
The Spartans had four players score in double-digits. They were led by Xavier Tillman who had 15 points and nine rebounds. Aaron Henry busted out of his slump to pick up 13 points. Gabe Brown also had 13 and Mark “ROCKET” Watts had his second straight game in double-digits with 11.
In the game, PG Cassius Winston had four assists. He is now the Michigan State and Big Ten ALL TIME assists leader passing Mateen Cleaves who was on hand to present him the game ball.
Tom Izzo said of the achievement of Winston and having Cleaves in the house to pass the baton, “It was great for me because I guess if you look at the four years with Mo, and you look at these four years with Cash, they've been some of the greatest seasons in Michigan State history and some of my greatest seasons. I guess it tells you why when you've got to be successful in football, you've got to have a good quarterback, and I had two of the greatest ones standing out there. What a thrill for me to be able to say that I recruited both of them and coached both of them, and they carried me.”
Greg Gard the Badgers head coach said of Winston when Spartan Nation asked him, “I mean he's obviously come in and developed and added pieces to his game, every year. But I think the one thing any really good point guard that plays at a high level does a great job of having a feel for the game and understands how and when to put pressure on the defense and he does it as well as anybody in the country, of really stepping on the gas at the right time, but yet controlling and running his team, when that is necessary. So, obviously he's a heck of a player. I'll be glad when he graduates and is done. No, but he's made himself into a really good player, his vision. I mean I've watched all the films of him, he is a tough cover, I mean, he makes people around him better.”
Winston said of his magical night, “It's a special night. The family was there, the assist record that was up there for 20 years came down, and that's a lot of assists so it's really a blessing to be in this position right now.”
The men in the green won the battle of the boards over the Badgers by a margin of 41-32. The Spartans had 12 turnovers. The Spartan stingy defense allowed the Badgers to 36% shooting from the field and 21% from three.
Izzo added of the game, “Well, God I should be thrilled, as normal I'm not, but I am pleased with a lot of things we did. I was disappointed in our rebounding in the first half. I don't know how many, I think they had eight offensive rebounds in the first half. I thought we had six turnovers; we had some foolish ones. I thought we shot pretty well. I thought we rebounded okay. In the second half, I thought we rebounded a lot better. Until the last six minutes, we were up 25, we were shooting 53 percent, and we were shooting over 40 percent from the three. We had a 25-point lead, and we go 0-for-7 or 0-for-8. Maybe to some people it doesn't matter. It does to me, and I just felt like Cash (Winston) had a tough night, and to win a game like that with my star having maybe his most average performance, I guess that speaks volumes too. At the same time, Xavier (Tillman) had some really good plays, and he had some tough plays too. What I told them is leaders have to lead, and I keep saying I have two guys with any experience, Cassius and Xavier. But on a positive note, all those sophomores and freshmen at no experience. Gabe (Brown) played his butt off, and I thought Aaron (Henry) played one of his best games. It's great when they can bounce back. I think Rocket (Watts) shot well, but he played well defensively too. Those three guys went 15-for-21 and overshadowed a 3-for-12 night. So, what I was trying to say to them is we're not going to win games like that on the road. If you want to win, if you want to really compete for this championship, we have to figure out how somebody on the court has to grab the bull by the horns and change some things. I felt good about the win. I felt good about the way we played at times. I was disappointed in a couple of those five-minute stretches where they went on 13-and-0 runs. We just didn't seem to do what we needed to do, but we did beat a quality team who was playing some of its best basketball. They were the hottest team in the league. (Greg) Gard has done an incredible job after a tough start, and I thought defensively, I don't know what they ended up shooting, I mean we did a pretty good job there considering they hit five shots in a row and then a little bit at the end.”
The Badgers never had the lead in the 40 minutes in the game. The Spartans led for 39:16. In all Tom Izzo played 10 players. Nine of them scored.
Izzo’s men had 20 assists on 27 baskets. The Spartans shot 38% from three, 47% from the field and a disappointing 70% from the charity stripe.
The team will return to the hard-court Thursday, January 23, 2020, in Bloomington, Indiana taking on the Hoosiers. That game can be seen on FS1 at 8:30 PM.
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