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Michigan State Basketball: 3 most clutch players during 3-game winning streak

By Jack Williams

Feb 25, 2021; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Joey Hauser (20) celebrates his three point basket with forward Aaron Henry (0) during the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2021; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Joey Hauser (20) celebrates his three point basket with forward Aaron Henry (0) during the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /
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Michigan State basketball
Michigan State’s Joshua Langford hits a free throw against Ohio State during the second half on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. /

2. Joshua Langford

You have to love the story of Joshua Langford at Michigan State. There isn’t a player on this team who has been through more. He started as a five-star freshman with loads of potential and will go out as one of the greatest leaders in Spartan basketball history.

Against Illinois, his minutes weren’t necessarily clutch, but he made some huge plays that resulted in a Spartan victory. He didn’t make any last-second shots, but he willed this team to a win over a top-five team.

Against Ohio State though, this guy was as clutch as clutch gets. Even though it may not look clutch on the stat sheet, Langford had a game-changing play with over 11 minutes remaining in the game. Justin Ahrens, brother of former Spartan Kyle Ahrens, had the ball on a breakaway. It looked like he was going to put his team up 51-42 and potentially put this thing out of reach.

But Langford chased him down and swatted the ball, reminiscent of LeBron James in the NBA Finals. MSU would go on to score in transition, completing a four-point swing that was crucial in this team’s win. But this wasn’t his only clutch play.

After Ohio State closed the gap to a single point with under a minute to play, Joshua Langford pulled up for a mid-range jump shot. Normally, this would give fans a heart attack, but somehow we all knew it was going in. Perfect swish. This gave the Michigan State basketball team a three-point lead that the Buckeyes couldn’t recover from.

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