Michigan State Basketball: Player grades from tough win over Minnesota

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 09: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans handles the ball during the second half of the game against Gabe Kalscheur #22 of 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 picked up a fifth straight Big Ten win to start the season, downing Minnesota on Thursday. How do the grades look?

A strong start to the conference season continued on Thursday night as Michigan State downed Minnesota 74-58 in East Lansing.

Sure, four home games in the first five conference contests has helped lead to this record, but the Spartans have still had to face Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota and Rutgers which are all teams that have shown improvement recently.

The Spartans didn’t play a good game against the Golden Gophers on Thursday, but they still found a way to win. Not only did they win, but Michigan State did so by a comfortable margin. Cassius Winston’s second-half surge contributed to this as he scored 16 in the final 20 minutes to help lead the Spartans past the Gophers.

With the win, Michigan State improves to 13-3 overall and 5-0 in conference play. It’s the only undefeated team left in Big Ten action but there’s a tough stretch approaching.

Before we look too far ahead, let’s take a gander at some post-game grades from Michigan State’s 16-point win over Minnesota.

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