Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from impressive win over Notre Dame

Michigan State basketball rounded out a packed Saturday for the athletic department with a home contest against Notre Dame. What’d we learn?

For the second time this week, Michigan State came away with a victory at the Breslin Center, beating Notre Dame 80-70 on Saturday evening.

Michigan State improved to 2-0 with the win while this was Notre Dame’s first game.

The Spartans probably should have won by a steeper margin, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t impress. They were up by 28 at one points and the score was 70-47 at one points, but the Fighting Irish went on a run to end the game to win by 10.

There were plenty of positives and some negatives from this one.

What’d we learn from the Spartans’ second win of the season?

3. This team moves the ball better than year’s team

Is it because the Spartans have faced two zone defenses? Maybe. But this team passes the ball better than last year’s and that might come off as a shock because Cassius Winston, the program’s all-time assists leader, but the Spartans have some elite passing big men.

Joey Hauser is the most obvious addition to the lineup as he’s one of the best passers from the middle of the floor. He’s a facilitator and you can bet Tom Izzo wishes he had him against Syracuse in 2018.

Aaron Henry — we’ll get to him later — has also improved his passing tremendously. He looks like a completely different player, making high-IQ plays.

Michigan State had 27 assists on 30 makes in the opener and 26 assists on 30 makes in this one. That’s an incredible stat.