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Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from win over UConn in PK80

By Connor Muldowney

TULSA, OK - MARCH 19: Nick Ward #44 of the Michigan State Spartans attempts a free throw against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at BOK Center on March 19, 2017 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)
TULSA, OK - MARCH 19: Nick Ward #44 of the Michigan State Spartans attempts a free throw against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at BOK Center on March 19, 2017 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State basketball came away with a 20-point win over Connecticut on Friday night. What did we learn from the Spartans’ victory?

Michigan State vs. North Carolina. It’s the game that everyone wanted to see when the Phil Knight Invitational began on Thursday. The big question was: would the Spartans and Tar Heels take care of business to make it to the title game?

The answer is yes. Michigan State took care of DePaul on Thanksgiving night, 73-51, and then downed UConn on Friday, 77-57. The Spartans are looking like the best team in the Big Ten at this point in the season after a nice win over the Huskies but they will be tested on Sunday against the Tar Heels.

What did we learn from the Spartans’ win over UConn on Friday?

5. Spartans have yet to put together a full game

Believe it or not, Michigan State is 4-1 with a lone loss against No. 1 Duke and have yet to put together a full game of action. This tournament has been a prime example of the Spartans not coming close to reaching their full potential.

It goes back to the opening game of the year against North Florida. The Spartans got off to a slow start before stomping North Florida by 32 points. The same happened against Duke as the Blue Devils took a double-digit lead in the first half before the Spartans marched back.

Stony Brook was the same way as the Seawolves hit a plethora of threes early on and kept it close against the Spartans for the first half before Michigan State pulled away. DePaul was tied with the Spartans at half and UConn was only down by one.

Michigan State still hasn’t put a complete 40 minutes together and you can bet that drives Tom Izzo crazy.

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