Tom Izzo Reflects On Cassius Winston's Senior Season
The No. 16 Michigan State Spartans went into Happy Valley and despite falling down as many as 19 in the first half, came roaring back to keep their Big Ten championship dreams alive. They took out the No. 20 Penn State Nittany Lions 78-66. The win improved the men in green’s season record and conference record to 20-9 (12-5).
The team will return to the hard-court Sunday, March 8, 2020, in East Lansing. They will be taking on the Ohio State Buckeyes. It can be seen on CBS at 4:30 PM ET.
Thee is no doubt that Cassius Winston will go down as one of the all -time Spartan greats. Tom Izzo reflected on his senior campaign. You can watch that in the above video.
With a win on Sunday, the Spartans would secure another Big Ten championship for their legendary Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo. MSU men’s basketball terrific SID Mex Carey gives us five quick things to look at ahead of their big game on Sunday.
THE STARTING FIVE
1. Series History
Michigan State and Ohio State will meet for the 136th time on Sunday, March 8 ... MSU leads the head-to-head series, 76-59, and has won six-straight at home and nine of its last 11 over the Buckeyes ... Michigan State is 46-17 at home and is 8-2 in its last 10 home meetings against Ohio State ... The Spartans swept a trio of games last year, beating Ohio State on Jan. 5, 86-77, in Columbus, and then posting an 62-44 win in at the Breslin Center on Feb. 17 and followed with a 77-70 win at the Big Ten Tournament on March 15 ... Tom Izzo is 31-16 in his career against Ohio State.
3. Michigan State to Recognize Four Players on Senior Day
Michigan State men’s basketball will recognize redshirt seniors Kyle Ahrens and Conner George, as well as senior guards Joshua Langford and Cassius Winston in post-game ceremonies following the Ohio State game ... Ahrens has battled injuries throughout his career, but has been a fierce competitor for the Spartans during that time ... He has played in 116 career games, averaging 3.0 points per game ... George came to MSU as a walk-on in 2015-16 and was awarded a scholarship for 2017-18 ... George has been referred to as a scout team “Hall of Famer” by Cassius Winston and turned his hard work into playing time in the rotation at different points during his career ... Langford, who was a starter during his first two-plus years, has been beset by injuries the last two years ... He has played in 83 career games, averaging 10.2 points per game ... Winston will leave Michigan State as one of the most decorated players in program history ... He is the all-time leader in assists and ranks among the top-six in scoring ... He was a consensus Second Team All-American last year and the Big Ten Player of the Year ... Winston is one of only five players in Division I history with at least 1,900 points and 850 assists in his career.
4. Tillman Named to CoSIDA Academic All-District 5 First Team
Xavier Tillman was selected to the Academic All-District 5 First Team by the College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA) on Feb. 20 ... First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® ballot ... First-, second- and third-team (if applicable) Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in mid-March ... Tillman, a communication major, carries a 3.627 cumulative grade-point average ... Tillman was the recipient of the Student-Athlete Support Services Provost Award in 2019, which is presented to the male and female freshman or sophomore student-athlete who embodies the characteristics of academic performance, community involvement and leadership ability ... In addition, he has been selected to the Dean’s List four times, was the recipient of the Scholar-Athlete Award in 2020, as well as earning High Honors on the Honor Roll in the Spring of 2019 and Student-Athlete of the Month honors.
3. MSU Reaches 20 Wins for Ninth-Straight Season
When Michigan State won at Maryland on Feb. 29, it marked the team’s 20th win this season ... MSU now has won 20 games in nine-straight seasons under Head Coach Tom Izzo ... Izzo has 20 20-win seasons at Michigan State and has missed the plateau only once since 2003-04.
5. About the Spartans
Senior guard Cassius Winston leads MSU, and ranks third in the Big Ten, in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game … Winston is also fourth in the league in assists (5.9 apg), first in free throw percentage, connecting on 85.5 percent of his shots (112-of-131), eighth in field goal percentage (43.9%), first in 3-point percentage (42.6%) and tied for sixth in steals (1.2 spg) ... Junior forward Xavier Tillman Sr. is second on the team with 13.7 points per game
(T12th in the Big Ten) and tops the team (3rd in the Big Ten) with 10.4 rebounds per game, while adding 3.0 assists (T14th in the Big Ten) per game and 2.1 blocks per game (4th in the Big Ten) ... Tillman is the only player in the league in the top-15 in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks ... Sophomore forward Aaron Henry is third on the team with 9.9 points per game, while adding 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists ... MSU has three other players averaging
at least 4.0 points per game, led by freshman guard Rocket Watts, who scored a career-high 21 points at Illinois and matched that against Iowa ... He is averaging 8.7 points per game (9.6 in Big Ten games) and 2.2 rebounds ... Sophomore forward Gabe Brown is averaging 7.0 points and 3.7 rebounds and scored a career-high 17 points at Nebraska ... ... Freshman forward Malik Hall, who has started nine games and scored 16 points and had six rebounds at Maryland, is averaging 4.7 points and 3.6 rebounds.
Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
Want the latest breaking MSU news delivered straight to your email for FREE? Sign up for the DAILY Spartan Nation newsletter when you CLICK THE MAGAZINE ICON at the top left of the page or the FOLLOW button back on the main page. Don’t miss any of the latest up to the second updates on Michigan State Sports when you follow on Twitter @HondoCarpenter & @JDeuceDullack
