Michigan State basketball keeps hot streak alive, smacks Purdue

Michigan State basketball kept its hot streak alive with a big home win over Purdue on Tuesday night. Can the Spartans carry this over throughout the month?

I bet you can barely remember the last time Michigan State lost a game. You’d have to go back all the way to the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in November against Louisville for that stat as the Spartans smacked Purdue in a runaway effort on Tuesday night, 77-59.

Things got ugly in the second half as the Spartans looked like they were sleepwalking through the first 10 minutes, or so, but Michigan State got hot and extended a four-point lead to double figures and put Purdue away for good.

Cassius Winston once again remained red-hot on his way to a 23-point performance on 7-of-14 shooting, adding five assists but he did turn the ball over five times — a season-high in Big Ten play.

Nick Ward approached double-double status with 16 points and nine rebounds while Xavier Tillman added 11 points and five rebounds off the bench.

In case you’ve forgotten, Michigan State is doing all of this damage in Big Ten play (5-0 in the conference) without Josh Langford, the team’s third-leading scorer.

With yet another double-digit win in conference play, the Spartans have four such victories in five tries to start the Big Ten campaign.

Can this team be stopped right now? Not if Winston and Ward are playing at high levels and Tillman is dominating off the bench. Also, Kyle Ahrens and Matt McQuaid have done a heck of a job — the latter especially on defense against Carsen Edwards on Tuesday night.

This team is on fire and the heat doesn’t look to be wearing off any time soon. Sure, it’s early in Big Ten play, but this team looks more cohesive than last year’s.