Michigan State Basketball: 3 quick thoughts from gritty win at Minnesota

Michigan State basketball opened up Big Ten play with a gritty win over a solid Minnesota team. This Spartan team is on the verge of being great.

Michigan State basketball pulled off a gritty hard-fought win against a Minnesota team that scratched and clawed to try and get back into this game. The Spartans had a 19-point lead with just about 10 minutes left in the game and then Minnesota woke up and gave all they could to get back into this game.

Michigan State was able to stave off the Gophers with a 75-67 win.

The Spartans made fans very nervous coming down the stretch giving up such a large lead. This lead was given up due to eight second-half turnovers — many of them coming after Minnesota woke up.

Michigan State was led by three upperclassmen in Gabe Brown, Malik Hall, and Tyson Walker who each scored 15 points. Joey Hauser added 10 points and seven rebounds to this gutsy win. Although the Spartans still have their moments, they continue to find ways to win.

Let’s take a look at what we saw in this one.

3. This team has to stay aggressive

Michigan State has to stay aggressive for all 40 minutes of the game. So many times this season the Spartans have given up huge leads to give opponents life and the energy to have a chance late. This is exactly what happened in this one. The Spartans were up by 19 points and then they started to slow.

The best thing the Spartans can do is continue to get out and run. So many people say MSU is at their best when they are running and when they get up big they stop running and they start to get lackadaisical and run sloppy half-court plays.

Michigan State was up big on Loyola Chicago before they started to get lazy and pulled out a win by one. They stuck with Baylor before they let fatigue catch up with them in the second half.  They failed to pull away from lesser opponents in Toledo. They also were up by 20 against Louisville before letting the Cardinals get some confidence to scratch their way back into the game.

This lack of aggression has been happening all season and the Spartans need to not worry about the points on the board or the time on the clock and continue to run. They need to keep their foot on the pedal.

If they can get up big against some better opponents like Michigan or Purdue don’t think they won’t be able to come back. Better opponents will end up winning those types of games.

So MSU must stay aggressive.