Michigan State Basketball: 3 quick reactions to dominant win over Butler

1. Turnovers are still the No. 1 issue

Turnovers were preached all week long. During practice any time there was a turnover the whistle blew, practice stopped and that practice team who turned it over had to run sprints. Players chirped at each other in practice when a turnover was committed.

Even with all the focus on turnovers at practice, it did not seem to help. These Spartans still managed to turn the ball over 20 times in this game. This was a sloppy game with many turnovers and yet the Spartans were able to roll over the Butler Bulldogs.

There were players who traveled and guys not knowing exactly where they were on the court and stepping out of bounds. There were simply bad passes that should not have been made. Not many of the turnovers came off of running the floor and just going too fast for their own good. Most of them were mental errors that can be easily corrected. They just have to want it.

Imagine, if you will, a Spartan team that did not lose 20 possessions in a game because of turnovers and instead translated those turnovers into shots. This Spartan team is on the cusp of greatness. They need to continue focusing on these turnovers and make it a priority to turn the page on the turnover woes.

If they do not have these mistakes, this 21-point victory could have been more like a 35-point stomping. If they don’t have 16 turnovers in their game against Kansas that game would have been much closer and they would have been in it at the end.

Turnovers will be the death of this basketball team if opponents can turn them into points. However, If this team can figure out this issue, it could be a dominant Michigan State team that will be hard to beat anytime and anywhere.