Michigan State moves into first place in Big Ten with road win over Michigan
Two weeks into the month of January, the Michigan Wolverines were the country’s last undeundefeated and riding high as the No. 2 team in the AP Poll. Now, they’re in third place in the Big Ten, and fans probably aren’t happy about the team that put them there.
The Michigan State Spartans ripped through Michigan’s highly-ranked defense and picked up a massive 77-70 win on the road Sunday, led by 27 points from their leading scorer.
Cassius Winston adds to All-American case in win over Michigan
In 40 minutes, Michigan State guard Cassius Winston posted 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting and eight assists to key the Spartans offense. Winston currently ranks fourth in the country in assists per game with 7.4, and is also Michigan State’s leading scorer with 18.9 pointer per game.
“I just tried to do everything I could tonight,” Winston said in a video posted by The Only Colors. No matter if it was rebounding, helping, talking, encouraging. Whatever I could to keep my team just to keep my team going, that’s what I tried to do.”
Winston had plenty to do as Michigan State was without its No. 2 and 3 scorers in Nick Ward (hand fracture) and Joshua Langford (left foot, out for the season). The victory was big enough to get the locker room video treatment after the game.
RIVALRY WIN ✅
ON THE ROAD ✅Does it get better?#SpartanDawgs pic.twitter.com/wDRn4psJcv
— Michigan State Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) February 24, 2019
The win gives Michigan State a 14-3 conference record, good for first place in the conference with three games left to play in the regular season. Purdue ranks just a half-game back and is in line to tie the Spartans at 13-3, while Michigan is now third at 13-4.
Not the only basketball win for Michigan State over Michigan on Sunday
As if winning on the road while missing two starters against their biggest rivals to take first place in the conference wasn’t good enough, the Michigan State women’s team posted an upset 74-64 win over Michigan as well.
Pretty good day for the Spartans.
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