CASSIUS WINSTON LEADS SPARTANS OVER WOLVERINES
The game, and control of
the Big Ten, teetered as the
ball found Matt McQuaid.
Michigan’s defense had lost the
Spartans’ shooting guard. The
senior made the Wolverines
pay.
His jumper from the right
block found bottom, and
Michigan State’s lead grew
to eight. With just under four
minutes to go in the game, it
was all the Spartans needed.
When the buzzer sounded,
No. 10 Michigan State (23-5
overall, 14-3 Big Ten) walked
off Crisler Center’s court as the
first visiting team to win on it
since last January. And, with a
77-70 win over No. 7 Michigan
(24-4, 13-4), the Spartans
gained sole possession of first
place in the Big Ten to boot.
After a single handed try at
a comeback by Jordan Poole
fell short, with guard Cassius
Winston hitting six straight
free throws in the last 40
seconds, Michigan’s players
walked back to their bench
with their heads hung low.
The buzzer sounded and they
filed through a handshake line
replete with disappointment on
one side, joy on the other.
The game was chippy. The
game was close. The game
was everything you’d want
from a top-10 matchup of
in-state rivals, living up to its
billing and then some. And
the Wolverines, ultimately,
fell short. When freshman
forward Ignas Brazdeikis
arrived in Crisler’s media
room afterwards, he let out an
audible groan.
“It definitely hurts,”
Brazdeikis would go on to say.
“It felt weird, cause we had the
lead. We were up six with like
13 minutes left. And then all of
the sudden, we’re down and it
didn’t feel right.”
And, for a brief moment, the
game was Michigan’s to win.
When McQuaid got called
for a personal foul early in the
second half with which he
disagreed, Michigan State’s
shooting guard turned to Tom
Izzo in fury. Brazdeikis, who
finished with 16 points, turned
to a sellout crowd and raised
his hands.
Two minutes later, he drove
baseline, dunked with two
hands and let out a yell as
Michigan’s lead extended to
six, Izzo called timeout and the
crowd roared alongside him.
The game, and all that went
with it, might have tipped
there. Instead, it turned.
Izzo told his team not to
panic. He told them to make
defense and rebounding a
calling card. He told them they
had proven they could hang. It
worked.
“As I tell them, I’m gonna get
into everybody who doesn’t do
what they’re supposed to do,”
Izzo said. “And that’s just the
way it is.”
The Spartans’ defense
proceeded to clamp down,
going over four minutes
without allowing a point
as they chipped into the
lead, retaking it after three
free throws from McQuaid
following the under-12 timeout.
As that one-point lead
became five and minutes
mounted, the Wolverines’
offense kept struggling.
“They’ve been a traditional
hard-hedge, flat-hedge
team,” said Michigan coach
John Beilein. “They didn’t
do any of that today. And so,
they’re daring some of our
guys to shoot. They’re going
underneath things. It threw us
off a little bit in our timing.”
In the final 10 minutes, it
became clear: the Wolverines
had little answer for
Winston and no way to score
consistently.
Junior guard Zavier Simpson
and Winston both played 40
minutes and, unlike previous
iterations, Winston got the
better of him, scoring 27 with
eight assists. After redshirt
junior wing Charles Matthews
left the game early with
an ankle injury, Michigan
struggled to find a consistent
scorer.
Simpson had 19 points,
Brazdeikis 16, but Michigan
State switched ball-screens
and forced the Wolverines to
play 1-on-1. Matthews returned
by the end of the first half, but
shot just 1-for-8 from the field,
creating a hole Michigan was
unable to fill.
Despite two teams that
came into Sunday with top-10
defenses in adjusted efficiency,
points came fast and easy in the
early going. When Michigan
State seemed to gain separation
after a Kenny Goins 3-pointer
put it up 27-20, the Wolverines
jumped out to an 8-0 run of
their own. At halftime, though,
the Spartans held a 39-37 lead,
and the game felt closer than
that.
That tone continued, but
on the scoreboard, it was
Michigan State pulling away.
Standing at the podium
25 minutes after the game
ended, Izzo offered up a harsh,
but true assessment of his
opponent.
“Michigan didn’t play as
good as they’ve been playing.
And some of it was that — we
had something to do with it —
but they had something to do
with it.”
Ethan Sears
Managing Sports Editor
SPORTSMONDAY
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | February 25, 2019
Alec Cohen / Daily
Design by Jack Silberman
STRAIGHT
CASH
MSU 77, U-M 70
STUDENTS LINED UP EARLY SUNDAY MORNING TO SECURE A SPOT IN THE MAIZE RAGE
INSIDE SPORTSMONDAY
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