3 takeaways from Michigan State basketball's blowout win over Nebraska

Following a drubbing of Minnesota on Wednesday evening, Michigan State basketball returned home and had its way with a 6-1 Nebraska team at the Breslin Center, 89-52.

It was a complete team effort and the Spartans dominated in pretty much every statistical category outside of turnovers. The Spartans shot the ball well, rebounded, got out and ran, and defended at a high level, especially in the second half, holding Nebraska to just 21 points in the final 20 minutes.

Michigan State had a 37-31 lead in the first half and then dominated from that point on, out-scoring Nebraska 52-21 from that point on.

What did we learn from this one?

1. Free throw shooting has improved tenfold

A year ago, Michigan State really struggled from the free throw line, ranking somewhere in the 200s in percentage. This year, the Spartans are one of the top 25 teams in the country in that same category and that's made a huge difference.

When you can make your free throws and take advantage of the front-ends of 1-and-1s, you can dominate a team and that's what the Spartans have done this season.

Ahead of Saturday's game, Nebraska was the best free throw shooting team in the Big Ten but the Spartans out-dueled the Cornhuskers. Nebraska was just 12-for-18 from the line while the Spartans made 22 of their 23 attempts, good for 95 percent.

Michigan State is shooting over 80 percent as a team on the year and when it comes down to winning or losing games at the line, that's going to be critical.