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Michigan State Basketball: Report card for comfortable win over Purdue

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 08: Kenny Goins #25 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates after a second half timeout was called with Foster Loyer #3 while playing the Purdue Boilermakers at Breslin Center on January 08, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State won the game 77-59. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 08: Kenny Goins #25 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates after a second half timeout was called with Foster Loyer #3 while playing the Purdue Boilermakers at Breslin Center on January 08, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State won the game 77-59. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 08: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans talks with Cassius Winston #5 while playing the Purdue Boilermakers at Breslin Center on January 08, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State won the game 77-59. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 08: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans talks with Cassius Winston #5 while playing the Purdue Boilermakers at Breslin Center on January 08, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State won the game 77-59. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Starters: A-

Once again, the starters proved to be some of the best in the country. Even without Josh Langford, the Spartans’ starters scored 59 points, led by Cassius Winston and Nick Ward.

Losing Langford was tough, but he should be back within the next couple of weeks which should help scoring even more as well as provide another perimeter defender.

In place of Langford, Kyle Ahrens played well. He, too, was suffering through an injury but toughed it out, playing 25 minutes and he scored four points with four assists and three rebounds but he couldn’t find the bottom of the bucket from long range, going 0-for-5.

Winston finished with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting with five assists but he did have a conference season-high five turnovers. His long-range game continued to be effective with 4-of-7 makes. The junior point guard has proven he deserves first-team All-Big Ten consideration and is a player of the year candidate.

Ward struggled a bit defensively, but finished with 16 points and nine rebounds but was out-paced on the glass by just Kenny Goins who had 11. The former walk-on also added seven points, six assists, three blocks and two steals. The post game was solid on the offensive end, but had a tough time slowing Trevion Williams.

The real star of the show was Matt McQuaid who locked down Purdue’s leading scorer Carsen Edwards while scoring nine points on 3-of-6 shots from 3-point range. If there was a game ball to hand out, it would have to be for McQuaid.

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