Michigan State basketball: The good, great, bad, and ugly from Georgia Southern win

Great: Defense

Michigan State’s defense on Tuesday night was stellar. Specifically in the first half, the Spartans absolutely suffocated Georgia Southern. Now, you can argue that the 0-6 Eagles were simply missing shots on decent opportunities. That may be true, but holding a team to just 11 points in the first half deserves credit. Michigan State forced as many turnovers, 11, as Georgia Southern had points in the first 20 minutes.

Michigan State basketball was firing on all cylinders on the defensive end for the first half. 

The second half was less dominating, from a defensive stand-point at least. The Spartans would allow 44 points, compared to their 11 in the first half. This was likely due to more aggressive lineup tweaks as the game was over before the second half even began. It’s thanks to this decent second half from the Eagles that Michigan State actually ended the game with a higher defensive field goal percentage than their season average. Coming into the game, MSU was ranked sixth in the country with a defensive field goal percentage of 35.5%. They would finish against the Eagles on Tuesday night with 40 percent.