No. 9 Michigan State Earns Big Ten Title with 75-63 Win Over No. 7 Michigan

East Lansing, Mich. - Junior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half and handed out seven assists as No. 9 Michigan State used a big second half run to pull away from No. 7 Michigan for a 75-63 win at the Breslin Center Saturday night.

The win clinched a share of the Big Ten Regular Season Championship for Michigan State, the program's second-straight regular season title, the ninth under Head Coach Tom Izzo and MSU's 15th regular season championship.

Sophomore forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) added 17 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots, while redsjhirt senior Kenny Goins (Troy, Mich./Warren Mott) added nine points and 16 rebounds. Freshman forward Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) chipped in nine points and eight rebounds and senior guard Matt McQuaid (Duncanville, Texas/Duncanville) added nine points.

Records
Michigan State, winners of seven of its last eight games, improves to 25-6 overall and 16-4 in the Big Ten Conference, while Michigan falls to 26-5 overall and 15-5 in league play.

Summary

The Spartans trailed by six points, 35-29, at the break, but Michigan hit its first two shots and led by seven points, 39-32, after a layup from Jon Teske.
The Wolverines still led by eight points, 48-40, before MSU went on a 10-2 run over a span of 2:38 and tied the game at 50-all on free throws from Tillman with 10:47 to play in the game.
That initial burst was part of a 25-4 run over a span of 7:27 as the Spartans turned an eight-point deficit into a 65-52 lead on a layup from Winston with 5:58 left in the game.
Michigan would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way and the Spartans took a 73-61 lead when Winston found McQuaid for a dunk with 1:13 left.
McQuaid and Goins were subbed out with 13 seconds left and the seniors were given the chance to kiss the Spartan on the floor at the Breslin Center.
Michigan State went into the half trailing by only six points, 35-29, after Michigan led by as many as 12 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Wolverines led from the start, taking a 7-2 lead on a Simpson layup just over two minutes into the game and extended the lead to 17-7 on a Brazdeikis 3-pointer at the 14:31 mark.
MSU cut the gap to five points, 19-14, on a layup from Henry with 10:34 to play, but the Spartans could not get any closer as the Wolverines took their biggest lead, 35-23, on a jumper from Simpson with 3:12 to play.
The Spartans used a mini 6-0 run, with a dunk from freshman forward Thomas Kithier (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston), a layup junior forward Kyle Ahrens (Versailles, Ohio/Versailesl) and a dunk from Tillman, cutting the gap to 35-29 into the break.

Key Stats

Winston scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
MSU shot 46.9 percent from the floor, including 51.9 percent in the second half.
The Spartans held a 46-20 advantage on the boards.
MSU began to chip away at the lead, with a three-point play from McQuaid cutting the UM lead to 39-35.
After turning the ball over nine times in the first half, the Spartans committed only four in the second half.

Notes

Michigan State finished the Big Ten season with a 16-4 conference record, the second-straight season the Spartans have won 16 games in league play (32-6 in the last two years).
Michigan State became just the second Big Ten school to win 32 conference games over a two-year span, joining the 1974-75 and 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers, who won 36 over a two-year period.
Michigan State captured its 15th regular-season Big Ten Championship. That's the second most in the conference since MSU joined the Big Ten in 1950-51, trailing only Indiana (19).
Tom Izzo captured his ninth regular-season Big Ten Championship, ranking third all-time among conference coaches, trailing only Purdue's Ward Lambert (11) and Indiana's Bob Knight (11).
Since Izzo's first season in 1995-96, no other school has won more than five Big Ten titles.
Michigan State out-rebounded its opponent for the 26th time this season.
The Spartans hit 23 free throws, the seventh time this season the team hit at least 20 shots from the free throw line.
Winston scored 23 points to lead the team in scoring. It was his 17th game this season with at least 20 points and his 14th in the last 20 games
Winston has scored in double figures 29 times this year and led the team in scoring 18 times.
Winston's 23 points give him 1,266 for his career, 29th all-time at MSU.
Winston handed out seven assists, his 27th game this season with at least six assists.
Tillman scored 17 points, his 15th game in double-figure scoring this season.
Tillman tied his career high with five blocked shots and he hit a career-high nine free throws.
Goins scored nine points and had 16 rebounds, his 14th game with at least 10 rebounds and his 21st time this season leading the team in rebounds.
Aaron Henry scored nine points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.

Up Next
Michigan State earns the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and will play Friday, March 13 at the United Center in Chicago.

No. 9 Michigan State Earns Big Ten Title with 75-63 Win Over No. 7 Michigan

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Team Stats

Cassius Winston

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Aaron Henry

Matt McQuaid

Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Thomas Kithier

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Cassius Winston

Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Thomas Kithier

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Cassius Winston

No. 9 Michigan State Earns Big Ten Title with 75-63 Win Over No. 7 Michigan

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Team Stats

Game Leaders

Cassius Winston

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Aaron Henry

Matt McQuaid

Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Thomas Kithier

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Cassius Winston

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Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Thomas Kithier

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Cassius Winston

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