Cassius Winston
50
Minnesota MINN 22-14
70
Winner Michigan St. MSU 30-6
Minnesota MINN
22-14
50
Final
70
Michigan St. MSU
30-6
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Minnesota MINN 19 31 50
Michigan St. MSU 33 37 70

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Michigan State Beats Minnesota, 70-50, to Reach Sweet 16

Des Moines, Iowa  -  Junior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored seven-straight points during a key second half run as No. 2 seed Michigan State beat No. 10 seed Minnesota, 70-50, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday night.

Michigan State advances to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in program history and for the 14th time under Head Coach Tom Izzo.

Winston finished with 13 points and nine assists, while sophomore forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) led the Spartans with 14 points and had six rebounds.  Four other players scored nine points apiece.  Freshman forward Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) added nine points and nine rebounds, redshirt senior forward Kenny Goins (Troy, Mich./Warren Mott) tallied nine points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks, senior guard Matt McQuaid (Duncanville, Texas/Duncanvile) chipped in nine points and four rebounds and junior forward Nick Ward (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) finished with nine points and seven rebounds.

Records
Michigan State, winners of seven-straight games and 12 of its last 13, improves to 30-6 overall, while Minnesota finishes its season with a 22-14 record.
 
Summary
  • Leading by 14 points at the break, MSU pushed the margin to 17 points on the first possession when Tillman scored on a conventional three-point play.
  • The Spartans led 38-21 after a McQuaid jumper at 17:41, but Minnesota used a 10-2 burst to cut the lead to 40-31 on a pair of free throws from Amir Coffey with 14:41 to play.
  • Winston scored the next seven points in a span of 57 seconds, hitting a pair of jumpers followed by a 3-pointer, to push the lead back to 47-31 with 12:31 left and forcing Minnesota to call a timeout.
  • Minnesota got no closer and the Spartans took their biggest, lead, 63-40, on a jumper from Ward with 6:04 left in the game.
  • Michigan State jumped out to a 14-point lead at the half, thanks to shooting 60.0 percent from the floor (14-of-23) and scoring 22 of the team's points in the paint.
  • The Spartans jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead, with a layup from Goins at the 15:51 mark forcing Minnesota to call a timeout.
  • Minnesota cut the MSU lead to 17-11 on a layup from Coffey with 10:28 to play, but the Spartans used a 14-0 run to take a 31-11 lead on a layup from Ward with six minutes left.
  • A late 8-2 run from the Golden Gophers cut the MSU lead to 33-19 at the break.
Key Stats
  • Michigan State out-rebounded Minnesota, 45-19, a +26 advantage.
  • MSU shot 57.1 percent from the floor (28-of-49), including 60.9 percent in the first half (14-of-23).
  • The Spartans limited Minnesota to 30.9 percent shooting (18-of-59), including 21.9 percent (7-of-32) in the opening 20 minutes.
  • Michigan State had only two players in double players, but had nine players score at least nine points.
  • MSU scored 34 points in the paint, including 22 in the first half.
  • Minnesota scored 26 points off 22 MSU turnovers.
Notes
  • Michigan State advances to the Sweet 16 for the 14th time in the last 22 years and eighth time in the last 12 years.
  • The win was Michigan State's 67th all-time in NCAA Tournament play, setting a new Big Ten record for most NCAA victories (Indiana, 66).
  • MSU is 16-5 in round of 32 games since 1985, winning 14 of the last 17 under Head Coach Tom Izzo.
  • Since 1998, MSU is now 14-3 in its second NCAA Tournament game.
  • The win was MSU's 30th win of the season, the second-straight season the Spartans have won at least 30 games … Including last year, Michigan State is 60-11 in the last two years.
  • This is MSU's fifth 30-win season, all under 23rd-year head coach Tom Izzo (33 in 1998-99; 32 in 1999-2000; 31 in 2008-09 and 30 in 2017-18).
  • Including 16 wins in the regular season, three in the Big Ten Tournament and Saturday's win over Minnesota, the Spartans have won 20 games against conference opponents this year.
  • Michigan State held Minnesota to just 50 points, the third time this season holding an opponent to 50 or fewer points and the 12th time holding a team to 60 or fewer points.
  • The Spartans improved to 21-2 when leading at the half.
  • MSU shot 57.1 percent from the floor, the 18th time this season the team has connected on at least 50 percent of its field goals.
  • Michigan State out-rebounded its opponent for the 32nd time this season.
  • Winston has scored in double figures 34 times this year.
  • Winston's 13 points give him 1,358 for his career, 25th on the all-time scoring list at MSU.
  • Tillman scored in double figures for the second-straight game and for the 18th time this season.
  • It was his second time leading MSU in scoring this year.
Up Next
Michigan State advances to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and will play No. 3 seed LSU on Friday, March 29 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
 
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