Roundball recap: MSU basketball gets back on track by rolling Indiana

Alright, well...basketball is fun again!

Miles Bridges was back in highlight form. Nick Ward was back destroying lives in the paint. Jaren Jackson was back...you know, why do people even attempt layups against him? Like shooting a layup over Beaumont Tower.

That’s the MSU we like to see, gang.

Is there anything better than watching a blowout? I mean, in some cases a close game is cool, but after the last three games MSU had it was great seeing them beat the brakes off Indiana. Sure, it’s a team that also lost to Indiana State and Fort Wayne, but it’s a good victory to get back on track.

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Miles Bridges had his best game in a while, filling up the hoop with 22 points off 9/13 shooting. He was slashing, throwing down alley-oops and burying threes. The perfect trifecta of Bridges offense.

Can he keep this going, or is this a flash in the pan against a favorable opponent? Kids, stay tuned to find out.

Jaren Jackson is good at blocking the basketball. So good he set the freshman record for blocks in a season with 65, breaking Deyonta Davis’ record (even though he seemingly played 20 minutes at MSU). The record is 72, set by Ken Johnson in the 1984-85 season.

He should have no problem clearing it.

Nick Ward had a solid game with 18 points and 13 rebounds and also looked a tad more comfortable in double team situations tonight. They didn’t badger him as much as Michigan did, but when he was draped with two players he seemed more composed — a great example was his dribble out and dish to Cassius Winston in the first half to extend the lead to 1,000. Or something like that.

Matt McQuaid had himself a nice game with 11 points on 4/6 shooting, including this tough finish at the rim.

Also, why do I feel like he leaves the game holding a towel to his face at least once a month?

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I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t get enough of the A-Rod thing today. To make my stance clear on him — I hated him as a player, but really warmed up to him later in his career and now like him a lot. Here are my favorite parts of his time at MSU and during the game:

-Him claiming he has had “great steak” in East Lansing. I cooked the flank steak at Hubbard my freshman year, so maybe he’s talking about that?

-Him claiming J-Lo was watching this game from home. Yes, I’m sure Jennifer Lopez is tuning into MSU-Indiana on a Friday night.

-On a more serious note, loved his interview here:

And loved his pep talk to the team here:

So how are we feeling about those jerseys? I actually didn’t hate them as an alternate. Every game? No way — but mixing it up with that look was sharp. Definitely wasn’t as tacky as the all-neon look we had a few seasons ago. My goodness, that was an abomination.

Up next is a struggling Illinois team on Monday, but I’m excited that it’s on the road. This team needs more road games under their belt, especially with how the only two have gone this year. We’ve got a close-ish game against Rutgers and a blowout loss to Ohio State on our road resume. Not great, so hopefully this team can do some growing against a favorable opponent on Monday.