Michigan State basketball breaks records in huge win at Nebraska

Things got hairy at the end of regulation, but Michigan State basketball escaped with its 16th win of the season in a road victory over red-hot Nebraska.

Having better luck in a tight game than the football team did, Michigan State basketball went to Lincoln and escaped with a 70-64 victory against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

No one said it was pretty, because it sure wasn’t, but the Spartans were once again without Kyle Ahrens and Josh Langford meaning that other guys such as Gabe Brown and Aaron Henry would have to step up once again — and that they did.

Henry finished with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and Brown had three points, four rebounds and a block off the bench.

Michigan State improved to 16-2 overall and 7-0 in conference play, breaking a school record for consecutive Big Ten wins with 19 dating back to last season. That’s an incredible number considering what this team lost in terms of two lottery picks and a couple of key seniors.

On top of that, Cassius Winston broke a record of his own, posting a career-high 29 points to go along with six assists on 9-of-15 shooting. This team is playing at an incredibly high level without two starting-caliber players and are now 5-0 without Langford and 2-0 in Ahrens’ absence.

Tom Izzo praised the effort from Winston after the game as he was clearly the catalyst for the Spartans and without him, this one would have been much different. He was a completely different player compared to what we saw from him Sunday in Happy Valley.

Michigan State has raced out to the lead in the Big Ten standings, just a half-game ahead of Michigan who plays at Wisconsin this weekend.

Winston may have jumped out to a big lead in the Big Ten Player of the Year race, especially with Matt McQuaid frustrating James Palmer Jr. to a 6-for-21 shooting night.

This team is special, folks.