Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from gritty road win at Minnesota

Michigan State basketball hit the road to face Minnesota on Sunday afternoon and it wasn’t an easy battle for the green and white.

Sitting at 1-2 on the road in conference play until Sunday afternoon, Michigan State knew it needed to beat the Gophers at Williams Arena to stick with Illinois in the Big Ten title race. The Spartans did just that, dominating Minnesota from start to finish, 70-52.

This win marks the fourth win by the Spartans over the Gophers in the past two years and each has come by at least 16 points — that actually happened a couple of weeks ago at Breslin Center when MSU won 74-58.

Defense stole the show for the Spartans as they had six steals and three blocks, holding the Gophers to just 28 percent shooting from the floor.

What else did we learn from Sunday’s battle?

3. Hall, Watts brought some energy to the starting five

Tom Izzo felt like his team needed a breath of fresh air after a stale performance against Indiana which came a couple weeks after another disappointing showing at Purdue. Adding two freshmen to the starting lineup seemed to help as they looked to play like veterans and didn’t let the crowd get to them.

Rocket Watts replaced Aaron Henry in the lineup and had 10 points and a rebound on 4-for-9 shooting as well as 2-for-5 from the floor. He is gaining some momentum on the offensive end of the floor and that’s great news for the green and white.

Malik Hall, too, was fantastic in the starting lineup as he showed some Kenny Goins-like toughness both on the glass and offensively in the post. He had seven points and six rebounds on 3-for-3 shooting. He looked like he fit well with the rest of the starting lineup and this could be a new role for him as he plays wise beyond his years.

Izzo may have just cracked the code on this team’s rotation.