Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from impressive win over Penn State

Michigan State basketball improved to 16-9 on the season with a dominant win over Penn State. What did we learn?

What a great win for this Michigan State basketball team. The Spartans went on the road to Penn State in a rematch from earlier this season and handled their business, winning 80-72. The Nittany Lions jumped out to a small lead early, but then it was all MSU the rest of the way.

There were a lot of good takeaways from the game tonight, but here are the few that stood out to me.

1. The Carson Cooper game

This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for. We all know we don’t have a big that’s going to turn into a go-to scorer for MSU, but we’ve been waiting for someone down low to take control and become a threat down low. Enter Carson Cooper.

Carson arguably had the best stretch of his career during the first half. He hit a few free throws and ran the floor extremely well to earn some transition buckets, but there was one play sandwiched in the middle that stood out the most.

Off a missed shot, the ball was loose flying towards midcourt. It looked like Penn State was going to have a two-on-one breakaway when Cooper came out of nowhere to win the loose ball. He passed the ball to AJ who threw it to Akins who hit a deep three to extend the Spartan’s lead. This play won’t show up anywhere on the stat sheet, but this was a five-point swing thanks to Cooper.

Like I always say, this team doesn’t need a dominant big in the post. All they need is someone to make their free throws, hustle, and score a few easy buckets. That’s exactly what Cooper did and why I hope he starts playing more.

2. Jaden Akins is getting hot at the right time

Jaden Akins is starting to get hot at the perfect time this season. He has been on fire from deep recently, and this game was no different. Akins finished with 20 points on 8-for-17 shooting including 4-for-9 from deep. This now means that Akins has shot above 40 percent from deep in five of his last six games.

If you remember last year, Akins got hot from deep around this same time in the season. That carried over into the NCAA Tournament, where Jaden was one of the main reasons for the Sweet 16 run.

I still don’t think Jaden can be relied on to score 20-plus points a night, but his efficiency recently has taken this team to the next level.

3. Can’t overstate how big a road win is

Surprisingly, this was only Michigan State’s second road win of the season. The first came at Maryland and now tonight against a hot Penn State team. This Nittany Lions team entered winning three of their last four games and had all the makings of pulling off the upset in this game. But Michigan State not only won, but they controlled the game all night.

That’s the part that stands out the most to me. This game never really felt in doubt. The Spartans ballooned their lead to double digits midway through the first half and never looked back. Sure they never pulled away completely and only won by eight, but it never felt like MSU was in danger of losing their lead.

After countless games where MSU has blown leads late, they did the exact opposite in this game and cruised to the finish line.

Bonus take: Winning with a quiet Tyson Walker is a great sign

Tyson Walker didn’t have his best outing in this game. Walker finished with just six points, and in fact, didn’t even score in the first half.

But I’m not worried about Walker at all, he’ll be fine and back to his normal self in no time. But for Michigan State basketball to win comfortably while Tyson had an off night is very telling of this team’s progression. A few weeks ago, I would have bet we’d lose to any team if Walker only scored six points. That’s not the case now and shows that many of MSU’s other players are drastically improving their play.