Michigan State Basketball: MSU 77 - Providence 64 Recap

Final stats: MSU 77-Providence 64 pic.twitter.com/2GS8GGTfQE

— Spartan Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) November 30, 2015

Four Factors

After Valentine picked up a second foul early on in the second half, it seemed MSU might be in some trouble against an athletic Providence team. It a back-and-forth game until MSU was able to take the lead with 5 minutes to go and never looked back. The final score was not nearly as indicative of how close of a game this was. Some bullet points:

• Eron Harris was aggressive getting to the hoop and shot 4-7 on 2-pointers (0-3 from deep) to go along with 3 assists. He was big catalyst for the offense on a night when Valentine struggled with finding his shot and foul trouble. If he keeps progressing the way he has been the last few games he'll become the offensive spark plug that many thought he'd be coming into this year.

• Bryn Forbes made some plays off the dribble (mostly getting fouled) which was good to see from him. He probably was forced to shoot a couple 3's he normally wouldn't have taken but it was a necessity due to the lack of offense being created.
• Deyonta Davis might be the team's best center right now. His combination of shot-blocking, offensive rebounding, and ability to finish above the rim may just trump Costello's skills. He's going to be really solid for this MSU team and he might end up being scary good next year.
• Valentine struggled because of Providence's good defense forcing him to take contested 3's when nothing else was opening up. He'll have off-nights from time to time and luckily the rest of the team was there to give enough support to get the win.
• McQuaid hit a huge 3 when the game was close showing exactly why he's out there in winning time. He had a dunk at the end of the game where he probably should've just dribbled the ball out but he'll probably learn not to do such things.

MSU's next game is at home against Louisville this Wednesday