Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from sloppy win over Louisville

1. Michigan State’s depth put this game away

Depth hasn’t been a concern for Michigan State for quite some time and on Wednesday, it carried the load for the Spartans.

Guys like Gabe Brown, Tyson Walker, Max Christie, and Marcus Bingham Jr. all played well in the starting lineup for the Spartans, but the bench went nuclear.

In fact, the Spartans’ bench scored 39 points on Wednesday night against Louisville while the Cardinals’ bench players had just 24 with El Ellis scoring 22 of those. Basically, Michigan State’s depth wore down the Cardinals as the Spartans dominated most of the game and probably should have won by more than nine, but if not for the bench, we may have seen Louisville steal one.

Malik Hall had another big game, scoring 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting and was 3-for-3 from deep, Jaden Akins had 10 points and looked solid again, AJ Hoggard had nine points, four assists, and four rebounds, and Pierre Brooks came in to hit a big 3-pointer and it looks like he’s earned more minutes.

Julius Marble and Mady Sissoko were relatively quiet, but the depth on this team can help it contend with anyone in the Big Ten this season.