3 takeaways from Michigan State basketball's win over North Carolina
If you were one of the lucky fans who stayed up past midnight to watch Michigan State basketball close out a win over North Carolina, you're probably both tired and happy today.
Thanksgiving got a little sweeter thanks to that overtime win over the Tar Heels and it was almost a souring game because the Spartans almost tried to give it away in the final minute. They were up seven with just over a minute left and fumbled away the lead thanks to some mindless turnovers and hot shooting by North Carolina.
In the end, though, Michigan State secured its sixth win of the year and first over a ranked team.
What did we learn?
1. Depth is not an issue
I was slightly worried about this team's depth in the loss to Memphis on Tuesday, but those worries were washed away on Wednesday night as the Spartans ran out nine guys who all had major impacts on the victory.
Even without Jase Richardson, the Spartans scored 94 points and had six different guys score 12 or more points. The team just looked solid from the first guy to the 10th guy (Kur Teng played a couple of minutes). This is the deepest team that Tom Izzo has had in a while.
2. Coen Carr, Xavier Booker are a formidable post duo
While Jaxon Kohler and Szymon Zapala start in the post every game now, the best possible lineup probably features neither of them. Actually, the best lineup on Wednesday was Xavier Booker playing the five and Coen Carr playing the four. That creates the highest ceiling for this team.
Booker was electric in the second half with 12 points in the final 20 minutes and overtime and Carr finished with 14 points and seven boards. Each had a block as well.
If Michigan State wants to run the best possible lineup out there, it has to feature Booker and Carr.
3. This team has some dawg in it
Michigan State has some dawg in it and that was obvious on Wednesday night.
The Spartans held the lead essentially from start to finish against the No. 12 team in the country without arguably the team's best player available. Richardson was out for precautionary reasons and that didn't matter as Michigan State came out swinging, took an early lead, built it up, and then won it back in overtime to win by three.
Some teams over the past 3-4 years would've quit in that scenario, especially after losing the night before, but this team is different.