Michigan State Basketball: 3 quick takeaways from exhibition win over Albion
Michigan State basketball hosted Albion for an exhibition contest to open the 2019-20 season. What’d we learn from the Spartans’ win?
The top-ranked Spartans hosted Albion on Tuesday evening and they ran away with a win after a sloppy start, 85-50.
It was a special game for Cassius Winston as his brothers are on Albion and his family packed the Breslin Center and he held true to his promise to blow them off the floor — all in good fun, of course. The Spartans didn’t quite play like the No. 1 team in the country, but this was a good opportunity for Tom Izzo to get all of his guys on the floor.
The Spartans pulled away in the second half after taking a 15-point lead into halftime.
What’d we learn from the Spartans’ exhibition opener win?
3. Malik Hall is going to be fun to watch
Worried about losing Kenny Goins? You shouldn’t be and Malik Hall is one of the main reasons for that. There’s a void at the four spot in the starting lineup for Michigan State, but if Tuesday was any indication, Hall should be a popular pick for that job.
Filling Goins’ shoes won’t be easy, but Hall is almost a replica of the former Spartans with an even higher upside. He is a strong rebounder, can finish around the hoop and has a nice mid-range jumper. He has a strong frame and doesn’t make many mistakes. He’s going to be a major piece to the Spartans’ title puzzle in 2019-20.
2. Gabe Brown has gotten a lot better
There was talk all offseason about Gabe Brown’s improvement and Cassius was asked this week who he thought would be the team’s breakout player and he mentioned the sophomore from Belleville. He proved everyone right on Tuesday with a big game and didn’t rely solely on 3-pointers but rather created his own shot and had some driving jams, too.
If the Spartans are looking for some bench production this season, Gabe might lead the way and he might even find himself in the starting lineup by the end of the year. His confidence seems to have sky-rocketed.
1. Turnovers are still an issue
Another year, another turnover issue. Michigan State may have only been playing Albion, so it’s tough to put a lot of stock into what we saw, but the Spartans had 17 turnovers and were sloppy with the ball quite often. Sure, it was with a lot of young guys playing, so that may have played a role in the sloppy play, but turning it over 17 times against Albion is not a great sign.
Next. 3 takeaways from disappointing loss to Penn State. dark
On a positive note, when the starters were on the floor, the Spartans were nearly unstoppable. The combination of Xavier Tillman and Cassius pieced together a 10-0 run of their own late in the second half and they look even better than last year.