Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from bounce-back win over Indiana

Michigan State basketball needed a strong performance to end its two-game skid against Indiana. What’d we learn from this intense battle?

Riding a two-game losing streak, Michigan State basketball was reeling ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Indiana after losing to Wisconsin and Rutgers over the past week.

The Spartans shook off slow starts to both halves to beat a decent Indiana team 76-61 at the Breslin Center to improve to 18-6 on the year and 9-4 in conference play. This was a win the Spartans needed and they put together a strong second half behind good bench play.

Tom Izzo has to be happy with how his team closed this game out after being tested early in the second half with an 8-0 Indiana run.

What’d we learn from this monster win?

3. Point guard play was a strength

Coming into this game, Michigan State had been getting mediocre play from its point guards.

You would never have been able to tell after watching AJ Hoggard and Tyson Walker lead the Spartans to a huge win. They both played some of their best basketball of the season, combining for 29 points, eight assists, and four turnovers. Without them stepping up, Michigan State doesn’t respond to every Indiana run as well as it did.

Hoggard got his first start of the season and played like he’d been starting all year, scoring 14 points with eight assists and four turnovers and while he did get ejected for two technicals, it was nice to see him showing some emotion out there.

Walker had 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting off the bench and he looked much more confident on the offensive end of the floor. It’s good to see him hunting for his own show.

Believe it or not, point guard play was a strength.