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Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from monster upset of No. 4 Ohio State

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 25: A.J. Hoggard #11 and Rocket Watts #2 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates 71 - 67 win against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Breslin Center on February 25, 2021 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 25: A.J. Hoggard #11 and Rocket Watts #2 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates 71 - 67 win against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Breslin Center on February 25, 2021 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State basketball exacted some revenge against Ohio State on Thursday night, upsetting the No. 4 Buckeyes in East Lansing. What’d we learn?

Down seven with about 10 minutes left, Michigan State had some soul-searching to do. Ohio State had the Spartans on the ropes and it looked to be do-or-die time for Tom Izzo’s team and they rose to the occasion. Michigan State fired back to an Ohio State run to tie things up and eventually take a lead.

The Spartans downed Ohio State thanks to a big shot late from Joshua Langford and some clutch free throws down the stretch, 71-67.

With the win, Michigan State improved to 13-9 overall and 7-9 in conference play which puts them right in the fold when it comes to NCAA Tournament talks. After the game, Joe Lunardi put Michigan State in his “first four out” category which was unthinkable a week ago.

Never count Izzo out, folks.

What’d we learn from Thursday night’s big upset win over No. 4 Ohio State?

3. Positive signs arose from Watts, Hauser despite average games

If you just looked at the stat sheet, you would have said that Rocket Watts and Joey Hauser had bad games. That wasn’t quite the case.

Sure, Rocket was 1-for-10 from the floor and couldn’t seem to get anything to go right on the offensive end, but he remained aggressive. He didn’t shy away from taking the ball to the hole and even hit a huge 3-pointer in the second half when Josh Langford found him wide open in the corner. Remaining aggressive and confident despite poor shooting is huge. He’s getting closer to being his old self.

As for Hauser, he has had a rough couple of months. But he was also coming off his best performance in a while with a double-digit showing against Illinois and while he may have had just eight points against Ohio State, he hit a huge 3-pointer late in the second half to bring MSU within one and then hit a critical free throw to give the Spartans a two-point lead with seconds left.

Seeing these two gain even a little confidence against elite opponents is big and it’s only going to help down the stretch.

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