Winston Named to Sporting News Midseason All-America First Team
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State men's basketball player Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) was named to the Sporting News Midseason All-America First Team on Tuesday.
The Spartans, winners of 10-straight games, improved to 15-2 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten Conference with a 71-56 win over Penn State on Sunday in Pennsylvania. MSU is ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches poll.
Winston, who was selected to the John R. Wooden® Midseason Top 25 last week, leads Michigan State in scoring with 17.6 points per game and in assists with 7.4 per game. He ranks seventh in the Big Ten in scoring and leads the league in assists with 7.4, which also ranks No. 6 nationally.
In addition, Winston is fifth in the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage, connecting on 45.4 percent of shots, and is fifth with 2.6 3-pointers made per game. He also ranks 11th in the league in free throw percentage (79.7 percent, 55-of-69), fifth in assist-turnover ratio (7.4 apg, 2.5 tpg) and tied for 14th with 1.2 steals per game.
He is the only player in the country averaging at least 17.0 points per game, 7.0 assists per game and connecting on at least 45.0 percent of his 3-point attempts. Winston has scored at least 20 points seven times this year and has handed out at least six assists eight times this season.
Winston has twice been named the Big Ten Player of the Week, the first on Nov. 26 after MSU won the Las Vegas Invitational. He was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, averaging 19.5 points, 8.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds in wins over UCLA and Texas. The second award came on Dec. 31 after scoring 24 points in a non-league win over Northern Illinois.
Michigan State plays at Nebraska (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten) on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. (ET). The game will air live on FS1.
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