Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from sloppy win over Louisville

Michigan State basketball faced a tough Louisville team on Wednesday night and pulled away with a win late. What’d we learn?

Michigan State basketball got its fourth straight tough opponent on Wednesday night, facing Louisville in East Lansing to cap off a stretch of four consecutive potential NCAA tournament-caliber opponents. The Spartans and Cardinals kept it close for a half but Michigan State pulled away in the second half, 73-64.

The Spartans were up by as much as 20 in the second half but Louisville chipped away and made things way too interesting in the final couple of minutes.

While the final score was not quite indicative of how much of a blowout the second half truly was, Michigan State picked up another quality win to improve to 6-2 on the year.

Let’s dive into some takeaways (and no, I’m not going to mention turnovers).

3. This team can shoot the ball, after all

While there has been plenty of criticism surrounding the offensive end of the court, the Spartans shot the ball well against Louisville which kept them in charge for most of the game.

Why haven’t we seen the Michigan State offense take off this season? I know I promised I wouldn’t mention this word, but, turnovers. Michigan State can shoot lights out like it did from distance against the Cardinals on Wednesday night, but when you turn the ball over 15-20 times per game, you’re only going to get so many shots up.

The Spartans were shooting lights-out from distance before two late misses from deep by Gabe Brown and they finished 10-for-18 from 3-point range.

Michigan State also shot 47 percent from the floor and 74 percent from the free throw line.

This team can shoot, but the turnovers need to be cut in half in order for the Spartans to capitalize on the hot shooting.