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Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from overtime win over Rutgers

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 10: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans looks on during a game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Breslin Center on January 10, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 10: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans looks on during a game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Breslin Center on January 10, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State needed overtime to beat Rutgers for the second time on the young Big Ten season. What’d we learn from the ugly win?

If you had the displeasure of watching Wednesday night’s Michigan State versus Rutgers game, you probably wish you had about two and a half hours of your life back. All jokes aside, the Spartans’ win over Rutgers was about as ugly as it gets.

It took overtime fo the Spartans to beat the Scarlet Knights at home which could act as a wake-up call heading into Saturday’s game against Michigan — or at least it should.

Michigan State has plenty of work to do before it faces the Wolverines. What did we learn from Wednesday night’s overtime win over Rutgers, though?

5. Jaren Jackson Jr. will dominate if he goes up strong

It’s not easy to go from dominating at the high school level to doing the same with the big boys in the college ranks, but Jaren Jackson Jr. has the ability to do so. In fact, the 6-foot-11 freshman has the size, skill set and overall talent to be one of the best post players in the country — he just needs the strength.

To be fair, Jackson Jr. is stronger than he was when he first stepped foot on campus over the summer. He has added plenty of muscle and doesn’t look like as much of a toothpick anymore. However, he still has some work to do.

In order to show off that added strength and muscle, he needs to put the ball on the floor when he posts up a defender and back him down. And when he goes up, he needs to do so with both hands and with no other thought in mind than putting the ball in the basket — don’t even think about the foul about to be drawn.

Sure, Jackson Jr. draws his fair share of fouls, but he’s got the talent to just dominate in the post if he can go up strong on a regular basis. He needs to go up with two hands and dunk on those dribble drives instead of attempting a contested layup. There’s not a soul in the Big Ten who’d be able to stop a more aggressive Jackson Jr. who finishes with dunks instead of layups.

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