Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from win over Cleveland State
Michigan State hosted Cleveland State on Friday night in a battle of Bryn Forbes’ former teams. What’d we learn from the 50-point triumph?
How good is Michigan State? If you ask Cleveland State head coach Dennis Felton, he’d tell you the Spartans are clearly the best team in the country. He made that statement in the post-game presser and he also said that he wants to build the Cleveland State program with the same blueprint that Tom Izzo built Michigan State.
The Spartans are currently 13-1 on the year and ranked No. 2 in the country and they had their way with the Vikings of Cleveland State on Friday night. It wasn’t much more than a scrimmage as the Spartans raced out to a 31-6 lead in the first 10 minutes and went on to win, 111-61.
The 63 first-half points for Michigan State were the most in the Izzo era and the Spartans have now scored 100-plus in three straight games for the first time since November of 2004. Could this team be on the verge of greatness?
What’d we learn from the Friday night route of Cleveland State?
5. Turnover issue nearly fixed
Casual turnovers, Tom Izzo referred to them as, have been a major issue for this team. Through about 30 minutes of action, the Spartans looked to make strides in correcting that issue, but the final 10 minutes of the game saw them record seven more.
Through 30 minutes, Michigan State had just four total turnovers. In the final 10, they nearly doubled that number, finishing with 11 on the game. There really isn’t a simple fix for this other than the fact that the Spartans sometimes take possessions for granted.
Michigan State gets too sloppy in late-game situations with the win in hand and it needs to start valuing each possession rather than going for the slick pass or alley-oop.
When Michigan State had just four turnovers late, they had a stretch of four straight possessions with a turnover, making Izzo’s blood boil and the total on the game to double. This team is on the right track, it just needs to put a full 40 minutes together.