Michigan State Basketball: Report card for overtime loss at Louisville

Starters: C+

The starting lineup looked a little different on Tuesday as Matt McQuaid was absent as he didn’t travel with the team following a deep thigh bruise he suffered against Texas. His replacement, Kyle Ahrens, had a whale of a game, though. In fact, he finished with a career-high 15 points and he continues to prove he deserves more minutes.

Even when McQuaid returns, the Spartans should be playing Ahrens at least 15 minutes per game off the bench as he is an offensive threat, can defend and has athleticism that is tough to guard. On multiple occasions, he slashed to the hoop and finished with a jam. He played 41 minutes and his production was exactly what this team needed to make a comeback.

Other than Ahrens and Kenny Goins’ rebounding, the starting five had a rough day.

Nick Ward had the next-best game, finishing with 14 points and three rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting, but he didn’t get the ball enough nor did he make sure the guards got him the ball deep in the post.

Cassius Winston made just 3-of-11 shots and finished with 13 points and six assists, but he had three costly turnovers and fouled out. Nothing was dropping for Winston, he looked gassed in the second half and that led to his constant hand-checks and was the reason he fouled out.

Now let’s move on to Josh Langford. The poor guy had the worst game of his career and nearly salvaged it late in the second half by drilling some big shots, including the game-tying 3-pointer which seemed to bounce on the rim and hang in the air for eternity. He had some bad turnovers and missed shot after shot, but somehow managed to finish with 15 points and four rebounds. He had four fouls and four turnovers as he couldn’t catch a break on 5-of-14 shooting.