Michigan State Basketball: Report card for win over DePaul in PK80

Starters: B

While the bench showed up to play against DePaul, the starters got off to a decent start and then fizzled out about midway through the first half. Foul trouble hit guys like Nick Ward and Josh Langford and forced some role players to step up and the ball wasn’t getting into the post enough.

It seemed like the starting five was lost without Miles Bridges through the first 20 minutes because they didn’t have a go-to scorer. That’s when Matt McQuaid stepped up, hitting 6-of-8 shots from 3-point range and finishing with a game-high 20 points. He did all of this while nursing a knee injury and proved to be useful in his first start.

Cassius Winston didn’t need to make many baskets to be effective. While he was just 2-of-10 from the floor, he was able to facilitate and dish out eight assists with eight rebounds and he scored 10 points. It’s good to see that he doesn’t need to score in order to lead the Spartans to a win.

Jaren Jackson Jr. had his second double-double of the year, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He didn’t get a block, but he did learn to defend better as he only picked up two fouls after fouling out against Stony Brook on Sunday.

Ward, as mentioned before, was in foul trouble and played just 11 minutes, but he finished with eight points and three rebounds. He was efficient, to say the least.

Langford wasn’t hitting his shots early, but had some big makes late. He finished 4-of-10 from the floor with 10 points, but he did foul out on a questionable sequence in the second half.