Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from victory over Savannah State

Michigan State basketball hosted Savannah State on Sunday afternoon and came away with a relatively easy victory. What’d we learn?

For the fourth straight game, Michigan State recorded 100-plus points, breaking a school record. Never before have the Spartans scored over 100 points in four straight games and the Spartans have also won each of the last four by at least 40 points.

Michigan State is on a tear right now heading into conference play, and that’s bad news for the rest of the Big Ten. With Maryland coming to town on Thursday, the Spartans have all the momentum in the world and the Terrapins have to hope to just keep it close.

The win over Savannah State wasn’t pretty the whole way, though, as the Tigers took an 18-17 lead in the first half after some shaky Michigan State defense on the perimeter mixed with some hot shooting. The Spartans ended the game on a 32-0 run and out-scored Savannah State 57-14 in the second half to win, 108-52.

What’d we learn from the Spartans’ blowout win over Savannah State on Sunday?

5. Cassius Winston can be Big Ten’s best passer

When Cassius Winston is focused and making the right/smart plays, he’s incredible to watch. He can make passes that’ll force you into a double-take, but he can also force passes that will make you wonder if he had a predetermined idea of what he was going to do with the ball, no matter what.

Not many players have the same type of highs and lows with the ball in their hands, but Winston has been slightly more consistent this year than he was a season ago and he leads the Big Ten in assists per game. That number is likely to grow as his confidence also rises.

Winston finished the game with 13 assists and that was after a shaky start when he attributed to the Spartans’ early turnover issue. When he wants to be, he can be the Big Ten’s top passer and he needs to do more facilitating as conference play gets underway.