Michigan State Spartans Basketball: MSU 76, Binghamton 33 Kneejerk Reactions

The Four Factors

MSU 1.12 Points Per Possession, Binghamton 0.49 PPP

On a day where Izzo's Spartans couldn't have been faulted for being a little flat, they held Binghamton to less than half a point per possession. The Breslin crowd was a little sleepy without a full Izzone or Spartan Brass section, and multiple "Beat the Hawkeyes" chants were started. The basketball guys didn't seem to mind, though:

Whoa. #Spartans with an alley-oop dunk off the tip. Ball never touches the floor once. https://t.co/8IVqJkoOKl

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) December 5, 2015

I'll get straight to bullets:

Three point shooting was a little off, with the Spartans going just 7-for-26 from deep. This was offset with a nice 60.5% clip inside the arc. Nothing to see here.

Marvin Clark had his best game since returning from injury, chipping in 9 points on 4-for-7 shooting, 6 rebounds, and a nice dunk to boot. I would say I'm cautiously optimistic, but I love me some Marvin Clark. I'm hoping for a larger role for Clark going forward.

Denzel Valentine did Denzel Valentine things, with 13 points, 12 boards, and 4 assists. I was glad that Izzo rested him some; 26 minutes seems about right in a 43-point romp.

Matt McQuaid and Eron Harris both had rough shooting games. McQuaid went 1-for-7 from the field while Harris was 3-for-9. Still, Harris seems to be getting more comfortable in the flow of the offense and chipped in 11 points and 5 assists. McQuaid needs to be in more control near the rim, but otherwise I think it was just an off game for him.

Deyonta Davis chipped in a nice 6 points and 11 boards, though his three turnovers were the most on the team. Davis is still a freshman, after all.

Bottom Line

Binghamton is not a great basketball team right now, but any time you can hold an opponent under 0.5 points per possession is impressive. Impressive enough, I'm guessing, to be #1 in the next AP poll after Kentucky's loss to UCLA.

Oh, and BEAT IOWA.