GRAHAM COUCH

Couch: If Cassius Winston can stay on the floor, MSU can beat Kansas

Graham Couch
Lansing State Journal

Michigan State freshman point guard Cassius Winston had seven points, five assists, one steal and no turnovers in 22 minutes against Miami Friday night. More importantly, he guarded ball screens as well as he has all season.

TULSA, Okla. – It’s not that the reporters crowded around Josh Jackson’s locker Saturday were missing a good story.

Jackson is a longtime friend of a couple of Michigan State’s freshmen, Cassius Winston and Miles Bridges. He nearly joined them to play in East Lansing. He’ll be matched up against Bridges Sunday when Kansas plays MSU in the second around of the NCAA tournament.

It’s a great story, a fun story. It’s just not the determining storyline of this game.

That story was being told Saturday by MSU assistant coach Mike Garland over a bathroom sink in the Spartans’ locker room, scribbling on a notepad to explain MSU’s defensive coverages to columnist who he could tell was about to oversimplify what MSU does.

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“Elbow-block help,” Garland said, after sketching out how the Spartans shrink the court and, collectively, cover gaps.

“That’s why our guy is in the Hall of Fame,” Garland said of MSU coach Tom Izzo. “That’s his defense. That’s his thing: ‘Elbow-block help.’ That’s his concept. That’s what makes him. He’s the best defensive mind probably ever, one of the best. His defensive schemes, it’s unreal. DJ (associate head coach Dwayne Stephens) has learned it from him and DJ is just as good.”

This is why Winston can play against Kansas. It’s why he can stay on the court opposite Jayhawks soon-to-be All-American point guard Frank Mason. He’s not guarding Mason one-on-one. He only has to do his part. Sometimes he doesn’t. That’s when it’s hard to keep him on the floor. That’s when MSU is in a pickle — when it can’t win with him or without him.

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“Cassius is going to stay on the floor, of course,” Garland said. “We’re going to have to figure out a way to protect him. Protect him like we protected those guys (Friday) night, by being in the gaps all night long.”

MSU has a chance to beat Kansas if Winston is running the show. He’s that good offensively. He took over the first half against Miami, the game at his fingertips. He finished with seven points, five assists, one steal and no turnovers. As importantly, he was sound defensively. To the point all the other stuff could happen.

“I see a guy that can really see the floor,” Kansas’ Bill Self said of Winston. “I think he's one of the best passers in college basketball. He’s got more assists than Frank and he’s playing 13 less minutes a game than Frank.”

And on defense?

“The reality of the way that Tom's teams guard, you know, the makeup is you guard your man but they're always in strong help and always forcing you to play around the perimeter,” Self continued.

In other words, the Jayhawks will try to take advantage of Winston's limited strength and quickness. It won’t be that easy — even with a one-man wrecking ball in Mason at the point for Kansas — unless Winston lets it be that easy.

“If one guy messes up in one area it can mess up the whole defense,” Winston explained of MSU’s defensive schemes.

Winston wasn’t any quicker Friday than he was in November or even March 1 at Illinois. Against Miami, he did his part, he trusted more — his teammates and his technique.

“You can see Cassius specifically, something as simple as flipping his hips instead of defensively sliding over,” MSU sophomore makeshift center Kenny Goins said. “You can see him implementing that throughout the weeks, he’s just getting better and better.

“It might be because you don’t trust the guys there. It might be because you don’t trust yourself with your feet to get over. Whatever it may be, we need to trust each other and trust the coverage that we’re going to get the job done.”

Kansas senior point guard Frank Mason, described as a "one-man wrecking crew," averages better than 20 points per game and is a national player of the year candidate.

The solution against Mason and Kansas might also include playing junior Tum Tum Nairn alongside Winston. Nairn is stronger and quicker and, usually, a more focused defender. Kansas’ backcourt isn’t overly long. Mason, who averages 20.8 points and 5.2 assists, is only 5-foot-11. Junior Davonte Graham is only 6-2. That makes it easier to pair Winston (6-foot) and Nairn (5-10). Izzo said Friday he might do so. It’s worked at times, because Winston plays so well off of Nairn, but they haven’t played a minute together since the home finale against Wisconsin.

Nairn would like that opportunity. And he knows what they’re up against in Mason, a senior who’s up for numerous national player of the year awards. Nairn guarded Mason early last season in the Champions Classic.

“He can put it on the floor real well, he can shoot the 3, he’s strong, he’s tough,” Nairn said of Mason. “He’s a Kansas guard, so he’s a tough guard. But he’s nothing I haven’t seen before. There’s a lot of tough guards in the Big Ten. (Minnesota’s) Nate Mason’s a handful, (Maryland’s) Melo (Trimble) is a handful. (Northwestern’s Bryant) McIntosh is a handful, as well. And (Frank Mason) is kind of a mix of all three. He can shoot it like McIntosh, put it on the floor like Melo and get to the rim like Nate Mason.”

“I called some coaches (Friday) night that played against Frank Mason,” Izzo said. “The common denominator of advice was, ‘Remember, now, you're not going to stop him. Don't try to game plan to stop him, because it's not going to happen.’ You hope to somewhat contain him and make sure he doesn't let everybody else get better because of what he can do in his penetration and shooting.”

MSU has its own point guard who can make life difficult for defenses — enough to perhaps lead an upset of a top seed like Kansas. But only if he isn’t ruining MSU’s own defense.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.