Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from exhibition win over Grand Valley

For the final time this year, Michigan State basketball played in a game that didn’t count against its record. Tom Izzo and the Spartans hosted Grand Valley on Thursday night, coming away with an 83-60 win over the Lakers.

The Spartans dominated Ferris State in the opener and Grand Valley presented a different challenge because it had five transfers from Division 1 programs on the roster.

Michigan State was up comfortably for the entirety of this one, however, led by a strong defensive effort and it cruised to a 23-point home win over the Division II Lakers.

What’d we learn from the Spartans’ last exhibition game before the Champions Classic?

3. Free throws must be a focus

In the first exhibition game against Ferris State, Michigan State shot just 19-for-31 from the free throw line. I would be willing to bet that Tom Izzo harped on that in practice over the past week, but it didn’t show against Grand Valley as the Spartans were just 11-for-20 from the line.

That’s an issue.

Through two preseason exhibition games, the Spartans are shooting just 59 percent from the stripe and that’s not going to cut it when games come down to the wire in non-conference play and eventually the Big Ten slate.

Michigan State has to make sure free throws are a focus moving forward because they can win and lose games and Izzo knows that. Through two games, it’s been awful.