Michigan State basketball displays depth in gritty Penn State win
Down two starters, Michigan State basketball recorded a double-digit win over Penn State in dominant fashion. This team may be deeper than we thought.
News of Kyle Ahrens’ absence from Sunday evening’s game made things a bit grim for Spartan fans heading into a Penn State battle, but Michigan State displayed depth once and grit once again, toughing out a win in Happy Valley, 71-56.
For the fifth time in six opportunities this season, Michigan State beat a Big Ten foe by at least 10 points and the Spartans are now 4-0 without Josh Langford.
No Langford, no Ahrens, no problem.
A starter and his replacement both missed the game, but freshman Aaron Henry stepped up and Foster Loyer and Gabe Brown each looked solid off the bench. Henry finished with seven points, two rebounds and two assists and Brown added three points and four rebounds.
Even on a night when Cassius Winston didn’t have his best game, scoring 11 points with six assists and seven turnovers, Loyer stepped up to score seven points with an assist. He showed aggression, taking six shots, making three of them.
This has to make Tom Izzo feel more comfortable about his team’s depth moving forward. Nine guys played in a game where two starters were out on the road. That means when everyone is healthy, the Spartans could seriously have 11 quality contributors.
Turnovers plagued this team, coughing the ball up 17 times, but Nick Ward and Matt McQuaid made up for that with 16 and 15-point games, respectively.
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Michigan State’s depth is truly something and its toughness exceeds that of the team from a year ago which lost just three regular season games.