Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from pull-away win over Minnesota

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 09: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans handles the ball during the first half of the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Breslin Center on January 9, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

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Michigan State basketball took on a Richard Pitino-led Minnesota team on Thursday night as a rematch of last year’s NCAA tourney matchup.

Just like we all expected, Michigan State had a hangover performance against Minnesota on Thursday night at home. After an emotional win over Michigan, the Spartans looked a little lethargic against the Gophers, winning 74-58.

The Spartans improved to 13-3 on the season and won eight straight games. They also improved to 5-0 in conference play, making them the only undefeated left in the league.

What’d we learn from Thursday’s game?

3. Sluggish start let Minnesota hang around

After an emotional win over a top rival, you can almost expect any team to struggle the next time out, at least to start the game. That’s exactly what happened to the Spartans as they led by just four points at halftime and were trailing close to the first break.

The Spartans hit their stride in the second half, but first-half turnovers and missed shots let the Gophers hang around and if they do that against better teams, they’ll get beat.

Minnesota has been playing much better of late and it was clear that they were ready to give the Spartans a run for their money. They punched hard early on and it looked like the Spartans would be on upset alert, but they punched back and twice as hard.

Michigan State needs to get off to better starts or it’ll come back to bite.

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