Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from victory over No. 5 Notre Dame

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EAST LANSING, MI – NOVEMBER 30: Joshua Langford #1 and Xavier Tilman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans helps Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans off the floor during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Breslin Center on November 30, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

3. Cassius Winston’s star is on the rise

When the season began, everyone talked about the need for Cassius Winston to step up and be a scorer as well as a leader. Through seven games, it looks like the sophomore point guard has done both of those. He has taken command of the offense as the No. 1 point guard and he’s scoring at a higher, more effective rate.

For the second time in the past week, he led the team in scoring, tied with Josh Langford, and was lights-out shooting from 3-point range. He finished with 17 points and seven assists, also grabbing five rebounds.

While he can sometimes be careless with the ball, averaging 2.6 turnovers per game, his assist numbers more than make up for it. He’s averaging 7.4 assists per game which is up from 5.2 last year. His rebound numbers are up to 3.3 and he’s also averaging 0.7 steals per game.

The big-time improvement has been his shooting. In fact, he’s making 57 percent of his 3-pointers as opposed to 38 percent last year, 53 percent from the field as opposed to 42 last year and 83 percent from the free throw line compared to 78 percent in 2016-17.

Winston’s star is undoubtedly on the rise.

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