Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from pull-away win over Rutgers

2. The bench responded nicely

After having one of their worst games of the season, Michigan State's bench showed up in a big way on Sunday afternoon.

Tre Holloman had his best performance since the Penn State game, scoring a bench-high nine points, the aforementioned Carson Cooper had four points and five rebounds, Coen Carr had five points, four rebounds, and a block, Xavier Booker hit a nice three, Jaxon Kohler showed off some nice post moves for a bucket, and even Steven Izzo got into the action with an and-one.

The bench finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, three blocks, and just three turnovers on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor and 4-of-8 from deep.

If the bench can give this type of production moving forward -- or even a fraction of it -- the Spartans will be in good shape. The game was put out of reach thanks to the effort from guys like Holloman, Carr, and Cooper.