Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout Stony Brook win

2. Jaden Akins got his swagger back

In now three of the past four games, Jaden Akins has looked like his old self. He's looked confident and comfortable on the offensive end of the floor again and that's led to some of his best play of the season and on Thursday, he had a career game.

Akins finished with 22 points (a career-high) and three assists on 9-of-12 shooting. Obviously it would have been nice to see him grab some rebounds as he's one of the better rebounding guards in the country, but you can't fault him for that as he made up for it with great defense and even better offense.

The junior guard had himself a breakout game and he finally looked like the future NBA player that we all expected him to be before the season started.

Struggling from deep this season until Thursday's game, Akins finally caught fire, needing very little space to get quick shots up and he drained 4-of-7 from distance. He looked like a star.

If Michigan State can get this Akins moving forward, the rest of the Big Ten is in trouble.