Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from big win at Ohio State

Michigan State basketball marched into Columbus and secured a big win over Ohio State in a top-15 battle. What’d we learn from the victory?

Columbus is a scary place for visitors. Both Ohio State basketball and football are extremely difficult to beat on their own turf/hardwood, but Michigan State was hoping for better success than it had last year.

The Buckeyes took down the No. 1-ranked Spartans 80-64 in Columbus and they wanted their revenge. Michigan State marched into Value City Arena on Saturday afternoon, overcame a seven-point halftime deficit and won 86-77 in front of Buckeye faithful.

Michigan State improved to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in Big Ten play with the win and proved that it deserves to be mentioned among the nation’s title contenders.

What else did we learn from the Spartans’ nine-point win over the Buckeyes?

5. Xavier Tillman made the call of the year

Has there ever been a more confident moment from a player than when Xavier Tillman yelled “that m-fer good” as the ball left Aaron Henry’s hands? Probably not.

When it happened live, everyone assumed Henry was calling his own make when it was halfway to the basket, but he, and Nick Ward, both said after the game that it was the voice of Tillman, per Chris Solari.

This was not just the call of the year, but one of the biggest makes of the season by Henry as well as the team, in general. There were still 15 minutes left in the game, so anything could have happened, but this gave the Spartans a ton of confidence as it turned a late two-point deficit into a one-point lead.

The usually-quiet Tillman made the call of the year, and college basketball fans all over the country are eating it up.