MSU vs Northwestern: What just happened edition

Well, that was pretty incredible.

I grabbed a picture of my heart rate during today’s game.

Northwestern couldn’t miss in that first half, starting the game 8 of 12 from three point land and taking a 18-16 lead with 4:18 left in the first half... Oh sorry about that, Northwestern was winning 43-16 and it was Vic Law on his own who was leading the Spartans 18-16. Fortunately MSU was able to rally and take a 27-18 point lead over Vic Law, Unfortunately they were down to Northwestern 49-27 at half. The only sort of bright spot for MSU was that Nick Ward had 11 points and was seemingly putting the entire Northwestern team in foul trouble.

Northwestern came out cold in the second half and apparently caught whatever was ailing the Spartans making only 1 of their first 5 shots to start the half. Anthony Gaines made two free throws to give Northwestern a 53-32 lead with 16:38 left. A couple of fun things happened at this point, Michigan State made 10 of their next 15 and Northwestern missed their next 12 shots. MSU completed a 24-0 run and took a 56-53 lead with 5:27 remaining. From here Cassius and Miles made sure MSU was able to complete the comeback scoring the final 9 points and escaping Northwestern with a 65-60 victory.

Cassius Winston didn’t feel like messing around during that 24-0 run. From 12:04 to 8:36 in the second half, Cassius scored or assisted on 13 of MSU’s 15 points to help tie the game at 53. He ended the game with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Ward made 9 of his 11 free throws. Big Puddin’ didn’t shoot particularly well from the field, but he kept MSU in the game(if you consider down 22 in the game) in the first half by putting Northwestern in foul trouble and he had a badly needed 15 points 10 rebound double double.

Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Sheehan did some deep diving into advanced stats for us today. Big win by the right hoop.

Michigan State just completed the largest comeback in Big Ten history after being down 27. I don’t know if this is really a record that you get excited about since there isn’t a situation in which this team should be down by 27 points, especially to Northwestern but it was pretty freaking awesome to watch happen and it kept Big Ten Title hopes alive for another day.

Speaking of a Big Ten Title, Ohio State has a big one tomorrow against Michigan that could leave MSU alone atop the Big Ten ladder if UM can pull off a win. Feel free to root for whichever team will let you sleep easier at night.

Next up is at home vs Illinois on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Illinois has lost their last 4 and have Nebraska tomorrow to potentially run that to 5 straight losses.

I think I can let Northwestern’s Social Media team take it from here. Sup?