Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from huge win over No. 16 Rutgers

1. Michigan State finally played elite defense

This is what we’ve been waiting to see all season. Michigan State finally played elite defense.

The Spartans came into the game allowing over 74 points per game and fresh off giving up 77 to Nebraska, 81 to Minnesota, 85 to Wisconsin and 79 to Northwestern to Big Ten play. That’s not exactly how you win the games you’re supposed to and Michigan State was 1-3 in league play thanks to that lackluster defense — which had elite potential, I might add.

And something must have clicked at practice this week because Tom Izzo had his guys ready to play from the get-go. This was the best defensive effort the Spartans have had all year.

Sure, you can look at the box score and say that Rutgers just had an off night, but even the Scarlet Knights would tell you that nothing came easy. They just couldn’t get clean looks all night.

Michigan State had eight blocks, five steals, won the rebounding battle by 21 and held Rutgers to just 31 percent shooting.

Rutgers may have been off, but Michigan State was smothering the Scarlet Knights for 40 minutes. We finally got to see just hot good MSU can be when it plays a complete game.