Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from clutch win over Loyola Chicago

If you like turnovers, you should have tuned in to ESPN at noon on Wednesday afternoon because Michigan State basketball put on a show. The Spartans turned the ball over left and right on their way to a 63-61 win thanks to Marcus Bingham Jr.’s alley-oop with 3.4 seconds left.

Michigan State got off to a hot start on defense, jumping out to a 9-0 lead thanks to a few Marcus Bingham Jr. blocks and overall pesky defensive effort. But Loyola got back into it thanks to some big shots and sloppy play from the Spartans.

What a game to kick off the Battle 4 Atlantis as the Spartans improve to 4-1 with the win and really stepped up in the second half with both Gabe Brown and Bingham in foul trouble.

The Spartans were down five at the half and as much as nine early in the second half only to come back and reclaim the lead late and then win it on Bigham’s score.

What’d we learn from this one?

3. We saw flashes of what Tyson Walker can do

We’ve all been waiting for Tyson Walker to show some flashes on offense and hunt for his own shot. He finally did that on Wednesday afternoon, shooting the ball nine times, making just three shots, but two of those were huge 3-pointers.

Walker’s shot is going to fall more consistently as long as he keeps looking to shoot. It’s nice to see him show enough confidence to get shots up and watch a couple of threes fall.

If Michigan State is going to exceed expectations this season and make some noise in March, the Spartans will need Walker to become more of an offensive threat. He needs to cut down the turnovers as he had four, but he finished the day with eight points and four assists which is a step in the right direction.