Cassius Winston took over when Michigan State needed him most, to get to Sweet 16

DES MOINES, Iowa — Cassius Winston felt things starting to slip.

Never mind that Michigan State still held a lead. His team’s comfy cushion began to unravel from 17 to nine in short order, the pro-Minnesota crowd making their voice heard — loudly, en masse — for the first time Saturday night.

“I felt the momentum going in their favor. I felt them making play after play,” Winston recalled later. “I told the guys, ‘We’re gonna be all right.’”

Then something clicked. The calmest man on the court went wild.

A defensive rebound and quick push.

A step-back jumper with the shot clock winding down, three Gophers surrounding him and a hand in his face.

A steal, and then a head-whipping foul drawn that dazed him momentarily.

A moment to regather his wits, then a seemingly nonsensical, two-handed runner that floated through the net.

Another deflection on a pass, then collecting Aaron Henry’s return pass in stride to pull up for a 3-pointer on the break.

Another swish. And a guttural yell as he hopped and skipped his way backward.

“It’s crazy how normal that is to me,” senior Kenny Goins laughed later. “That’s Cassius Winston.”

Look out, college basketball world, Mr. Winston is heading to Washington next.

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All of the urging from Izzo for his junior point guard since October to be the Spartans’ alpha coalesced into a 1-minute, 22-second outburst. The Big Ten player of the year's seven-point takeover eliminated any hope for the 10th-seeded Gophers and drove MSU into its first Sweet 16 in four years with a 70-50 rout.

“What I liked is he found another gear,” Izzo said of Winston’s 13-point, nine-assist, four-rebound performance. “We talked to Cassius about getting to another level. And each game, I’m trying to get him to another level. ‘Can you now lead better?’ ‘Can you now suck it up better?’ …

“He was a one-man wrecking crew. Before that, you know, a little shaky on some things. But I think he grew another step, to be honest with you.”

The Spartans (30-6) advance to face No. 3 seed LSU on Friday at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. Time and TV network will be announced Sunday.

It is the first trip to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for Winston and every other teammate except fifth-year senior Kenny Goins.

“Amazing, just to finally get over that little hump and get to that second weekend,” said Winston, who made 5 of 11 shots. “We gotta lock back in sharp on the little details and then continue to play that winning basketball we’re playing.”

MSU won earliest the matchup of Big Ten teams since before the NCAA tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and the first intraconference matchup since Izzo beat Wisconsin in the 2000 Final Four.

It is the Spartans’ fifth 30-win season and 14th Sweet 16 berth under Izzo in his Hall of Fame coaching career. His 50th NCAA victory broke a tie for fifth-most in tournament history, trailing only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, former North Carolina coach Dean Smith and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim.

And the Spartans ended Izzo’s longest drought without a Sweet 16 appearance in his 24 seasons — three years — in trademark fashion: with stifling defense and dominating rebounding.

Minnesota shot just 30.5 percent for the game and made just 2 of 22 3-pointers. MSU finished with a crushing 45-19 rebounding edge.

With senior forward Jordan Murphy out most of the game with back problems, Amir Coffey scored 27 points for Minnesota (22-14) but made just 8 of 24. No other Gopher reached double figures.

Collectively, the Spartans did it on the offensive end as well. Sophomore Xavier Tillman had 14 points and six rebounds. Goins, fellow senior Matt McQuaid, freshman Aaron Henry and junior Nick Ward each scored nine points and combined for 28 rebounds.

“Everybody just knew how much we wanted this game,” Tillman said. “When everybody had the chance to score the ball, they took full advantage of it. … Total team effort. Everyone was really locked in, everybody wanted this win bad.”

It was not perfect basketball by any means.

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MSU committed 22 turnovers, and the 26 points the Gophers scored off them accounted for more than half their points. Those were the worst in both categories by the Spartans since Illinois scored 28 on 24 MSU giveaways in a loss on Feb. 5. Many of them Saturday were unforced — a bad post entry passes, players not anticipating the ball and fumbling it away, moving screens on offense.

“I think it was a good game for us,” Izzo said. “It was good that we got off to good starts, but we had enough negative things that it’ll be an interesting plane ride home to figure out why we turned the ball over like we did and try to clean that up.”

But the Spartans continued to play through them. And Winston’s monster stretch allowed them to maintain a big lead over the final 12:34 afterward.

“He’s showing why he’s one of the best players in the country, if not the best point guard in the country,” McQuaid said of Winston. “He just controls games, he has vision, he can score, he can do so many things. And he does it every night.”

As Izzo took Winston and McQuaid out of the game, he put his arm around both their waists and pulled them in close. They talked for a few seconds, a laser-focused conversation looking forward.

Their biggest work remains ahead.

“Just that we gotta be better,” Winston said of the talk. “We won, congratulations, but it’s always gonna get harder. The road is gonna get harder and we’re gonna play better teams, so we gotta play better as a team and shore up things.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!