Michigan State Basketball: Report card for Spartans win over Stony Brook

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EAST LANSING, MI – NOVEMBER 19: Nick Ward #44 of the Michigan State Spartans drives to the basket and draws a foul from Tyrell Sturdivant the Stony Brook Seawolves at Breslin Center on November 19, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Rebounding: B+

Last year, I decided to give rebounding its own category because usually it was a major storyline in each of the Spartans’ games. The same holds true for this year, especially after the Duke loss.

In that loss to the Blue Devils, the Spartans gave up an unheard of 25 offensive rebounds and as you can imagine, Tom Izzo was not too pleased. He responded by running the war drill in practice multiple times in the days following the loss, but how did his team fare against Stony Brook?

All you have to do is look at the numbers and realize that there was a concerted effort by this team to improve on the glass. If you watch the first half, you probably thought the Spartans struggled on the glass again, but they improved in the final 20 minutes.

In fact, they held Stony Brook to just 25 total rebounds and eight offensive. There were some problems with multiple over-the-back calls on Ben Carter, Gavin Schilling, Nick Ward and Jaren Jackson Jr., but that will continue to be cleaned up with more film sessions.

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