Cassius Winston Leads Michigan State To Victory 24 Hours After His Brother Passes!
Breslin Center
East Lansing, MI
The #1 Michigan State Spartans got their first win of the season tonight here at the friendly confines of the Breslin Center. They routed the Binghamton Bearcats 100-47.
But the story of this game was off the court. Just 24 hours before tip, PG, and player of the year, Cassius Winston learned of the passing for his brother Zachary. It was an emotional night that started with a moment of silence and Tom Izzo in tears.
Izzo said of Winston, “My message to the team tonight was play with a broken heart. These guys' hearts were broken. I have coached in a lot of games in my career, but this was the hardest. Got the word after midnight then spent the next four or five hours at the hotel with them. I expected him not to play. We left it 100% up to Cassius. Cassius, his brothers, are the world to him. Zachary grew up around the team, and they are all friends with Zachary too. Spent all summer her and was like a part of the team.”
Xavier Tillman said of the tragedy in the Cassius Winston family, “Personally, with was hard. We lost someone so near and dear to us. Hard to swallow and keep moving forward. It was always about being together.”
Kyle Ahrens added, “Been really hard the last 24 hours. Being there for Cassius, he is our brother, and so is Zachary. He (Cassius) started breaking down a little bit, and we are there for him. We are brothers.”
Cassius Winston led the Spartans with the double-double as he had 17 points and 11 assists. Xavier Tillman had 17 points and eight rebounds. Aaron Henry had 16 points, and Aaron Henry had 16 points. Only one other Spartan was in double digits, and that was Marcus Bingham Jr (MBJ), who had 13 points and six rebounds.
The Spartans won the battle of the boards 48-33, and the Spartans also had four minuscule turnovers.
Tom Izzo said of the Winston tragedy, “When you are a coach, you a trained to see problems and fix them. But in this case, there was nothing we could say or do to make it better. So all we did was tell Cassius that we are going to support him.”
Tom Izzo added of the game, “We got off to a great start, mostly him (Winston) getting people the ball. We were pretty good defensively. I was surprised, I didn’t think this was Kentucky, but they are better than they played. I got texts from players and coaches all across America today. I thought the stat of the day for an Izzo coached team was four turnovers. That is un-American.”
The Spartan continued their habit of being unselfish. They had 25 assists on 38 baskets. The Spartans shot 28% from three, 51% from the field and 85% from the charity stripe.
The Spartans return to the court for game three of the regular season on Thursday. They will be taking on Seton Hall at 8:30 PM on the road. That game can be seen on FS1.
The Duke Blue Devils will be in East Lansing to take on the Spartans on Tuesday, December 3rd in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. That game can be seen on ESPN, and it tips off at 9:30 PM
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