Texas Tech basketball: First look at Michigan State

On offense, it is all about PG Cassius Winston

Making this matchup so fascinating will be seeing the nation’s best point guard take on the nation’s best defense.  Everything Michigan State does revolves around the game of their All-American junior, Cassius Winston.

The 6-foot, 180-pound native of Detroit leads the team with 18.9 points and 7.6 assists per game.    And despite the fact that he averages 38 minutes per game, he is turning the ball over just 2.9 times per contest.  (Keep the turnovers in mind because we will circle back to that critical stat in a  little bit.)

The Big 10 player of the year is not going to overwhelm anyone with his athleticism.  Rather, he is a throwback type of guard that seems to always make the right play.  That’s not to say that he is a stiff with the ball in his hands (after all, he is averaging nearly 19 points per game) but his game is not going to turn heads the way a guy like Ja Morant of Murray State does.

The showdown between Tech’s best on-ball defender Matt Mooney and Winston should be the best one-one-one matchup in this game.  Will Mooney be able to keep Winston from getting to his spots on the floor or will MSU’s leader be able to break down the Red Raider defense off the dribble?

MSU has only two other double-digit scorers.  6-foot-8, 245-pound forward Nick Ward averages 13.2 p.p.g. and 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward Xavier Tillman is putting up 10.1 p.p.g.

At 78.3 p.p.g. the Spartans rank No. 41 in the nation in scoring.  50% of their offense comes from 2-point baskets while only 31.5% of their offense comes via the 3-point shot, which is no surprise given that they feature three players over 230-pounds in their regular rotation.

When they do fire from deep, Tech will have to keep an eye on Winston (40.4% on the season) who has nailed 82 3’s and Matt McQuaid (42.2%) who has made 70 thus far.  Meanwhile, Elite 8 hero Kenny Goins, who nailed the shot that gave MSU the lead for good against Duke, is a threat at 35.2%.

But it all comes back to Winston.  He has been in double-digits in all but two games this year including 20 games of 20 points or more.  Additionally, he has 18 games of eight or more assists.

Thus, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Tech try to handle Winston one-one-one with Mooney or Culver or Francis and try to let him get his (he scored at least 20 points in all but two of MSU’s losses this year) while trying to prevent the other Spartans from having big games.  Don’t get wrapped up in how many points Winston scores but monitor how many he creates for his teammates.