Michigan State basketball: 5 takeaways from clutch road win over Florida

2 of 5

EAST LANSING, MI – DECEMBER 03: AAron Henry #11 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts to a call during a game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Breslin Center on December 3, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

4. Bench is being trimmed

Michigan State is a deep team — when it wants to be.

Tom Izzo is trimming the bench, though. Michigan State could play about 10-11 deep on a regular night, and the Spartans have even gone 12-13 deep, on occasion, but at Florida, Izzo went with the eight guys he felt most comfortable with.

It was a tight game late, so it makes sense that Izzo wanted to keep his starters in the game for most of the time. Josh Langford and Cassius Winston played 37 and 36 minutes, respectively, while Kenny Goins went 29 minutes and Xavier Tillman played 28 off the bench.

The bench is being trimmed, clearly, but I’d be shocked to see the team play 8-9 for the rest of the season because, well, that’s not how Izzo works.

Still, it’s nice to see the regulars play and it makes sense that Matt McQuaid, Tillman and Aaron Henry were the only ones off the bench.

It’ll be nice to see more of the freshmen moving forward.

Home/Spartans Basketball