#8 Michigan State Spartans 71-42 Loss To The Purdue Boilermakers Game Thread
Mackey Arena
West Lafayette, IN
The #8 Michigan State Spartans took the Minnesota Golden Gophers to the woodshed earlier this week, 74-58. That improved the men in green’s season record to 13-3 (5-0).
The team returns to the hard-court today, Sunday, January 12, 2020, at Purdue. That game can be seen on CBS at Noon.
The Boilermakers are 2-3 in the Big Ten and 9-7 overall. But don’t be confused they are a very good team and a very dangerous team. Especially at home.
Mackey Arena is intense and one of the best environments in the nation, not just the Big Ten for basketball. Something Izzo has his team ready for.
“You know we played in big games, I mean when you're at Madison Square Garden, when you're at Seton Hall, those are big games. When you play against Duke at home, they are big games, but I don't think we are ready for that yet, I don't think our freshman are. I don't think our freshman were as ready tonight, so, it will be a new experience for them. It's a good time to go on the road and see where we are, but there is going to be a lot of basketball left right now. There are going to be a lot of teams. I stick with what I said, you know, I still think that five losses will win this league just looking at the league and looking at everybody and so the biggest thing that we have to do is prepare for that you know, maybe bring in the sound stuff tomorrow because I think we have to do a better job, I have to do a better job of making sure that our freshman are ready for this and yet you don't get a lot of time to do it, you know but it will be fun to do.”
In the above video, Tom Izzo the Hall of Fame head coach talks about the Sunday tilts versus the Boilers. Here are five quick notes about this game courtesy of Mex Carey the MSU SID:
1. Series History
Michigan State and Purdue meet for the 125th time on Sunday, Jan. 12 ... Purdue leads the all-time series with Michigan State, 69-55, including a 43-18 edge
in games at Mackey Arena ... MSU and Purdue have split the last six games in the series ... The teams split a pair of games last year, with MSU posting a
77-59 win at home on Jan. 8, 2019 and Purdue following up with a 73-63 win at Mackey Arena on Jan. 27 ... Tom Izzo is 26-17 in his career against Purdue.
2. Last Year Against Purdue
In the first of two meetings between the teams, Cassius Winston scored a game-high 23 points and then-No. 6 MSU pulled away for a 77-59 win at home
on Jan. 8 ... The Spartans led by 13 points (39-26) at the break before Purdue cut the lead to 52-48 ... The Spartans responded with five-straight points after
baskets from Winston and Aaron Henry and Purdue got no closer ... Nick Ward added 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots and Xavier Tillman
had 11 points and five rebounds ... In the second meeting, MSU trailed by as much as 23 points in the second half and pulled to within four points late, but
would get no closer in a 73-63 loss ... Winston scored 23 points, had seven rebounds and eight assists, while senior guard Matt McQuaid added 12 points.
3. About the Spartans
Senior guard Cassius Winston leads MSU, and ranks second in the Big Ten, in scoring, averaging 19.4 points per game … Winston is also fourth in the
league in assists, averaging 6.3 per game, and first in free throw percentage, connecting on 86.3 percent of his shots (63-of-73) ... Junior forward Xavier
Tillman is second on the team with 14.3 points per game (12th in the Big Ten) and tops the team, and is third in the Big Ten, with 10.2 rebounds per game,
while adding 3.1 assists per game ... Sophomore forward Aaron Henry is third on the team with 10.0 points per game, while adding 4.3 rebounds and 3.3
assists ... MSU has six other players averaging at least 4.0 points per game, led by sophomore forward Gabe Brown, who is averaging 8.8 points and 4.6
rebounds ... Freshman guard Rocket Watts adds 6.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists ...Sophomore forward Marcus Bingham Jr., who has started the
last 11 games and collected career high’s in rebounds (12) and blocks (5) against Illinois on Jan. 2, is averaging 4.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks
... Freshman forward Malik Hall is averaging 4.9 points and 3.2 rebounds, while sophomore forward Thomas Kithier adds 4.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.1
assists and guard Foster Loyer adds 4.2 points and 1.1 assists.
4. Winston, Tillman Lead No. 8 Michigan State Past Minnesota, 74-58
Senior guard Cassius Winston scored nine of his game-high 27 points in the final three minutes as No. 8 Michigan State used a late run to pull away from
Minnesota for a 74-58 win at the Breslin Center Thursday night ... Junior forward Xavier Tillman had his second-straight double-double, scoring 19 points
and grabbing a career-high 16 rebounds ... Sophomore forward Aaron Henry added seven points and seven assists, while sophomore forward Gabe Brown
added nine points and five rebounds.
5. Winston Approaching All-Time Assist Record, Nearing Top-10 at MSU in Scoring
Senior guard Cassius Winston entered the 2019-20 season with 714 career assists and needed 103 more to pass Mateen Cleaves for the most in school
history ... He now has 808 and needs nine to pass Cleaves, who finished his career in 2000 with 816 ... He is also the nation’s leader among active players
in assists ... With 27 points vs. Minnesota, Winston has scored 1,702 points and needs 17 more points to pass Paul Davis (1,718 points, 2002-06) and Mike
Robinson (1,717 points, 1971-74) for ninth and 10th place in the MSU record books ... He is just one of 11 players in MSU history to score at least 1,700
points ... Winston is the first player in Big Ten history to score at least 1,600 points and hand out at least 800 assists.
The Spartans open Big Ten play 5-0 as previously mentioned. They are winning conference games by a 14 point margin on average.
Make sure you comment in the comment section below with other Spartan fans from around the nation. Also, refresh the story so you can get the latest highlights and stats from here at Mackey Arena.
STARTERS: Marcus Bingham Jr (MBJ), Aaron Henry, Gabe Brown, Xavier Tillman, and Cassius Winston
UPDATE: 1ST Media Timeout Of The Game: #8 MSU trails Purdue 9-4. 15:51 TURNOVERS 2-0 MSU
UPDATE: 2ND Media Timeout Of The Game: #8 MSU trails Purdue 19-4. 12:23 TURNOVERS 4-0 MSU
UPDATE: 3RD Media Timeout Of The Game: #8 MSU trails Purdue 22-10. 7:26 TURNOVERS 5-0 MSU
UPDATE: FINAL Media Timeout Of The Game: #8 MSU trails Purdue 32-12. 3:42 TURNOVERS 7-0 MSU
UPDATE 1st media timeout of the 2nd half and #8 MSU trails Purdue here at Mackey Arean by a score of 39-27. TURNOVERS: MSU 10-3 15:26
UPDATE 2nd media timeout of the 2nd half and #8 MSU trails Purdue here at Mackey Arean by a score of 47-31. TURNOVERS: MSU 11-3 11:52
UPDATE 3rd media timeout of the 2nd half and #8 MSU trails Purdue here at Mackey Arean by a score of 51-36. TURNOVERS: MSU 14-6 7:50
Spartans get blow out 71-42
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