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

1. Bench play was the difference

Michigan State is one of the deepest teams in the nation. They are consistently playing 9-11 guys on any given night. This is because they have the players to do so but also because they do not have a star go-to player like other teams do.

Michigan State does not have a player like, Johnny Davis, Trayce Jackson-Davis, or Jaden Ivey. This in return makes the Spartans rely on their full team to come out for the game and perform at their best level.

This is exactly what the Spartans did tonight and they had a huge production from their bench. The Spartan bench scored half of their points giving them 43 points. That is huge when you think about how many points the Badgers got from their bench, a whopping seven.

AJ Hoggard was dominant in the first half, getting others involved. Malik Hall was getting to his spots, that right baseline that he loves where he can make a turnaround jumper. Jaden Akins had another coming out game as a freshmen.

Before this game, Akins had a total of 12 points in Big Ten play all year. He contributed 10 in this one alone. Every time Wisconsin tried to go on a run to get back into this game, it was Akins who quieted the crowd. On two separate occasions Brad Davidson for Wisconsin hit huge 3-pointers and it was Akins who said “anything you can do, I can do better” and hit crowd quieting 3-pointers himself to not let the Badgers make a run.

When Michigan State has big performances from their bench and they get all of their players involved. They can and will be one of the top teams in the nation.