Michigan State Basketball: 3 quick reactions to dominant win at No. 8 Wisconsin

2. Back to classic Spartan basketball

For the last couple of seasons, Michigan State Basketball has looked not like a classic Tom Izzo coached team. The have been turning the ball over at a crazy rate, they have been lackadaisical on the glass, and just not looking like themselves.

This game was different. The feel was different. The Spartans got big. They got tough. They did not let their opponent dictate how they were going to play this game. They boxed out and won the rebounding battle by a large margin.

The Spartans have been struggling as of late to keep their opponent off the glass especially on the offensive side of the ball. Against the No. 8 team in Wisconsin they did not back down. They battled and only gave up seven offensive rebounds, most of those were not due to lazy play. They, on the other hand, had 11 offensive rebounds and were fighting for them all.

Michigan State did not let down the entire game and they battled for every lose ball. This is different than the last few games where every time a shot was put up the Spartans were just caught watching instead of following their assignments, finding a body and boxing out.

This tough play was huge in allowing the Spartans win in a convincing fashion. I can only imagine that the Spartans had a major “war” week. Where they did the “war” drill which is a high intensity rebound drill. If the Spartans continue to play with this tenacious intensity they will continue to keep the top spot in the Big Ten.