Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from comeback win vs. Penn State

3. Miles Bridges can take over games when he wants

Dan Dakich once infamously referred to Miles Bridges’ inside-out play as “Has no game.”

Yes, we know by now that anything Dakich says is to try and gain attention. He’s become the Skip Bayless of college basketball broadcasting and while he has plenty of knowledge about the sport — as he’s played and coached — he is painfully wrong about a lot of his hot takes, including this one.

Bridges had been criticized heavily in the first half of the season for not being able to take over games like he did as a freshman, but the truth of the matter is that he didn’t quite have to. With options like Cassius Winston, Nick Ward, Josh Langford and Jaren Jackson Jr., he didn’t need to score 20-plus on a nightly basis to lead his team to victory.

That somehow got lost in the shuffle and when he was scoring 15-20, he was getting criticized. Sure, he did stand on the perimeter too much, but Tom Izzo laid into him and told him to be “more of a jerk.”

He’s responded nicely.

In fact, since the loss to Michigan a few weeks ago, he’s averaging 22.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and just 1.8 assists per game. He’s looking for his shot more and driving the lane on a regular basis.

With the Spartans down 12 in the second half, he broke out of his slumber and put the team on his back, along with Cassius Winston, finishing with 23 total points and 12 of those came in the final 14 minutes. He’s not afraid to take over and has that ability.