Michigan State Basketball: Signs from Spartans’ return to Big Ten play

Plenty of signs have emerged from Michigan State basketball’s return to Big Ten play this past week. What have we learned?

During Michigan State’s first-week return to conference play, several signs emerged that can be far-reaching in determining the team’s destiny.

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There were more negative signs than positives, but the clinic Michigan State conducted against Maryland provided several positives, and promising signs can even be drawn from the team’s subpar performance against Rutgers.

While his 21-assist total over three games was for him commonplace, Cassius Winston’s most noteworthy statistic was committing a combined three turnovers. Fewer turnovers result in more shots for teammates, more assists, and ultimately more points for a team averaging 86 points.

We witnessed the detriment of the point guard spot for Michigan State in its loss to Ohio State. The Spartans led 11-4 and were playing effectively when Winston subbed out a few minutes into the game. After sitting, the team’s offense dwindled, Ohio State went on a 10-0 run, and the game transformed.  Can the offense sustain itself when Winston leaves the court?

The team’s go-to player in crunch time, Winston again delivered by making 4-of-4 late free throws to seal the win over Rutgers. Joshua Langford’s three-pointer in the final minute was the most pivotal play, and Winston’s drive and kick to the open Langford was crucial itself. Having a decisive, confident player to trust late in games is invaluable, and Winston proved he can be trusted to make baskets, assists and free throws late in games.

Against Maryland, Nick Ward hit a jumper behind the key and a baseline fade away. Considering he rarely misses down low, the team may not need Ward to score in other ways. But adding other scoring abilities to his repertoire makes the dominant big man even better.

Ward totaled a shockingly low three points versus Ohio State. The most concerning sign about Ward is that, even with his soft hands and ability to establish position, he may go a game and rarely see the ball. The following game, Ward proved his importance to Michigan State’s success by leading the team to victory.

A subtler but significant sign coinciding with Nick Ward’s effective defense was getting calls from referees. Some players seem to consistently benefit from the bias of referees while others suffer from it. Factors may include size, playing style, who knows? But Ward has always been in the second group, subsequently scoring less and sitting more. More than ever before, Ward got more calls and no-calls in his favor against Maryland and Rutgers.

Miles Bridges is showing multidimensionality. For example, drawing Maryland defenders while driving baseline before dropping a no-look bounce pass to Kenny Goins for a dunk. His versatility emerged against Maryland with a seven-assist outing days after totaling 21 rebounds. The favorite to earn conference player of the year, Bridges’ multidimensionality sparked glimpses of Michigan State’s last two conference players of the year, Draymond Green and Denzel Valentine.

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But Green and Valentine excelled not only in producing tangibles – scoring, defending, passing, rebounding – they also provided the pivotal intangibles of leadership and a will to take over games. Bridges has displayed stardom, but Michigan State needs him to reach a new level of leadership and drive to dominate games.