Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from win over Southern Indiana

It wasn’t exactly flawless, but Michigan State basketball improved to 1-1 on the season after beating Southern Indiana on Thursday night, 74-51.

The Spartans weren’t exactly lighting the nets on fire, but they were able to win by 23 and even lead by nearly 30 at one point despite hitting just one 3-pointer all night. That’s right, the 3-point woes continued.

It’s time to really improve quickly as the Spartans travel to Chicago to face Duke next Tuesday in the annual Champions Classic.

What’d we learn from the win on Thursday night?

3. Rebounding is an issue

For the second straight game, the Spartans couldn’t seem to close out effectively and that led to way too many offensive rebounds for Southern Indiana and easy second-chance points.

In fact, the Spartans surrendered an astounding 13 offensive rebounds to a team that they should’ve had no problem dominating on the boards. Michigan State only won the rebounding battle, 37-35. That’s unacceptable.

Michigan State must figure out how to box out effectively and find the right spots on the floor when the ball goes up because giving up 13 offensive boards and 35 total to Southern Indiana is only going to spell disaster against Duke.