Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from win over Stony Brook

It was a battle early on, but Michigan State basketball pulled away from Stony Brook on Sunday night. Here’s what we learned.

For most of the first half, Stony Brook gave Michigan State fits and held with the Spartans. When the second half began, it was all Michigan State. The Spartans were able to pull away from the Seawolves, but Stony Brook made them work for the win.

The biggest storyline after the win was Miles Bridges and his ankle injury. According to Tom Izzo, though, it’s just a sprain, not high-ankle, which is good news for the green and white. He’s listed as day-to-day and might not miss any time, although Izzo doesn’t want to take any chances.

There was still a game played on Sunday. The Spartans took down Stony Brook and overcame sharp-shooting from the Seawolves. In fact, they made 13-of-26 shots from 3-point range, keeping them in the game.

What did we learn from the Spartans’ 93-71 win over Stony Brook on Sunday?

5. Rebounding took a step in the right direction

After one of the worst rebounding performances in the Tom Izzo era, Michigan State made it a mission to dominate the glass on Sunday. Although the Spartans let Stony Brook hang with them in the rebound battle through the first half, they pulled away late as the box outs grew more consistent.

Michigan State out-rebounded Stony Brook 41-25 and that comes just a few days after being demolished in the rebound battle against Duke. That shows progress, but it still, the Spartans have a long way to go. This is arguably the biggest team Izzo has had and it should be out-rebounding teams by 15-16 per game.

Stony Brook wasn’t exactly a “big” team, by any means, but the Spartans still took a step in the right direction. We will see just how far they have come with the Phil Knight Invitational this week.