Couch: MSU conquers an irritating streak – and shows two reasons why greatness is possible
Graham CouchDES MOINES, Iowa – On a night Michigan State became the winningest Big Ten program in NCAA Tournament history, no one asked about it.
The questions were about avoiding failure. About the relief of reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, for the first time with any of the current players on the court.
When failing to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament three straight years becomes the cross you bear as a program, you’ve made it.
MSU further secured its place among the upper crust of college basketball Saturday, and as Big Ten royalty. In taking apart Minnesota, 70-50, it won its 67th NCAA Tournament game, moving ahead of Indiana (66). Michigan is next at 54 NCAA Tournament wins all-time. Most of the heavy lifting has been done in the Tom Izzo era — 50 of those 67 wins, 14 of the 20 Sweet 16s.
Think about that: 14 Sweet 16s in the last 22 years. You know who else has done that? Duke and Kentucky. That’s it. And somehow three years away had become thing, feeding a notion that Izzo had lost his winning touch in March, that this program was past its prime.
The pressure was real, though, because a fourth straight failure to get out of the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend would have actually made it a thing and taken the misery to another level, in a year when MSU had accomplished so much else and had its path to the Sweet 16 tailor-made.
Saturday’s win freed the Spartans from all of that. And allowed them to embrace their own expectations again — well beyond the Sweet 16.
“I mean, Sweet 16 is great, Big Ten championship is great, all those things are great. But I think what’s expected here is what’s expected at only four or five other schools,” MSU assistant coach Dane Fife said Saturday night. “That’s just because of the culture that’s been created and the players and former players that believe in this program and have high expectations.”
After the last 22 years, MSU’s fans do, too.
So let’s dig into those expectations and whether this team can reach them. Because while MSU was pasting the Gophers, I began wondering whether they were truly capable of greatness, or just a lot better than Minnesota and a nasty matchup for Michigan.
There were two reasons made clear Saturday that greatness from this team is possible: One spurt from Cassius Winston and one steady night of overwhelming athleticism from Aaron Henry. You want cause to believe MSU can keep going and, along the way, beat Duke? That’s it.
What Winston did in one 87-second stretch — as the score tightened, as Minnesota’s home-court advantage took hold, as a decisive victory looked less sure — showed an innate understanding that few players have, even among the best talents in college basketball. In 87 seconds, a 7-0 Cassius Winston run, including a rebound and a steal, put MSU back safely in control.
“I mean he was a one-man wrecking crew,” Izzo said.
“He was hurting,” Izzo continued. “I asked him. He said, ‘I’m hurting.’ We’ve talked to Cassius about getting to another level and each game, I’m just trying to get him to another level: Can you now lead better? Can you now suck it up better?”
His step-back jumper late in the shot clock to open that scoring flurry, that was next-level stuff. Same for the two-handed runner the next trip down the court. And the dagger, the pull-up 3 on the break, on a perfect pass back from Henry, on a play that began with Winston knocking the ball away from the Gophers.
“We needed it. I felt that momentum going,” Winston said afterward.
That instinct.
“That’s one of the things they count on me for,” he continued.
When you have a player like that, you’ve got a chance — to push back in a hurry when things are going wrong, to win the big moments, to put an opponent on its heels. Doesn’t matter if it’s Minnesota, LSU or Duke. Ask Michigan.
Yet, what MSU is about to encounter next also requires next-level athletes. Defensively, Xavier Tillman is that, Kenny Goins is underrated, Matt McQuaid is overlooked. But MSU only really has one of those — Henry.
When Izzo went berserk at Henry in the previous game — making national headlines and bringing on uninformed and self-righteous outrage over his ferocity — he was doing so in part because he desperately needs Henry. And when Henry makes mistakes, it’s never for lack of understanding. “It’s usually (his) motor,” Fife said Saturday.
Henry, two days later, played his most calm and complete game of the season: Nine points, nine rebounds, no lulls or gaffes.
His high-wire capabilities on the glass and devastating first step with the ball tip the athletic balance in MSU’s favor just enough. It’s not a team that otherwise has enough of it to reach a Final Four. Not with what’s next in its path.
“I think he’s a little smaller version of Brandon Dawson,” Goins said Saturday. “(Dawson) is probably one of the hardest athletes I had to guard day in and day out. I played one on one with (Henry) one time and literally I don’t think I could stay in front of him to save my life. I consider myself a pretty good defender, but that was pretty much impossible.
“That guy, right there,” Goins said, pointing across the locker room at Wells Fargo Arena, “his first step and overall athleticism might trump Branden Dawson.”
Dawson, too, made the Spartans different. He separated them further in 2014 and, in 2015, gave them the physical presence that allowed for that Travis Trice-led Final Four run to take place. In 2012, when he was lost for the postseason with a knee injury, MSU ran into an athletic matchup it couldn’t handle in the Sweet 16 and bowed out.
Henry is that athletic thoroughbred. And when he looks as comfortable as he did Saturday, from the opening tip, he stands out.
He’ll stand out even against LSU and Duke. He’ll make MSU athletically formidable against those sort of teams.
“He’s a big part of why we’re good this year,” Fife said.
We’ll get to see how good now. The Spartans earned that chance Saturday — by conquering an irritating NCAA Tournament streak and putting themselves back on a stage they’ve lived on for most of the last two decades.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
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Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.