Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from blowout win over Northwestern

Beating Northwestern is one thing, but embarrassing them is another. Michigan State basketball did the latter on Wednesday night.

Michigan State had closed out non-conference play with a string of blowouts and no one expected that to continue into Big Ten action, but the Spartans proved to be far too much for Northwestern to handle on Wednesday night in East Lansing.

The green and white shook off a sluggish start to pull ahead of the Wildcats and then extend that lead thanks to a 21-2 run near the end of the first half. Michigan State scored 52 first-half points on a team that allows about 61 per game and finished with an 81-point outburst mostly because the reserves saw plenty of time in the final 20 minutes.

Michigan State is now 3-0 in conference play with three double-digit wins and 12-2 overall. The Wildcats fall to 0-3 in conference action and 9-5 overall.

What’d we learn from Wednesday night’s blowout win over the Wildcats?

5. Guys always seem to step up when someone goes down

Josh Langford’s injury looked to hang a black cloud over Breslin Center as Wednesday evening’s game was about to start as many were worried that the offense would struggle — as well as the defense — against a Wildcats team that had two close calls against contenders to begin conference play.

The concerns weren’t far-fetched, though, as Langford was a 15 points per game scorer and his absence was a major blow to the Spartans outside game as well as perimeter defense.

How did the Spartans respond? Kyle Ahrens, his replacement in the starting lineup, scored 11 points and had a major impact while Matt McQuaid also reached double figures, scoring 10. A couple of guys who don’t usually break 10 points did just that to make up for the absence of a top scorer on the team.

No matter what the situation, guys always seem to step up on this year’s squad and that’s the sign of a true contender.