Cassius Winston wins Big Ten Player of the Year

Like there was ever any doubt, Cassius Winston has been named the Big Ten Player of the Year.

The Big Ten champion guard received the honors after posting a regular season with 19 points, 7.6 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game. He also logged at least 35 minutes in four of MSU’s last seven games of the season to clinch the Big Ten title despite missing Nick Ward and Josh Langford down the stretch.

Winston became the first Spartan in program history to win Big Ten Player of the Week five times in the same season. His most recent honors came after MSU beat Michigan the first time (because that happened twice, people forget that).

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This is the ninth time the Big Ten Player of the Year honors go to a MSU student-athlete, who already leads the conference in most players to win that honor. He joins Scott Skiles (1986), Shawn Respert (1995), Mateen Cleaves (1998 and 1999), Mo Peterson (2000), Kalin Lucas (2009), Draymond Green (2012) and Denzel Valentine (2016).

Top performances this season

Not sure if you heard in the offseason, but Winston was going to “get owned” or “get the clamps put on him” or “suck against Zavier Simpson” or whatever against Michigan.

How about a combined 50 points and 15 assists in those two games? That panned out well for those people.

At least they have a banner to look back on—oh wait, that’s right. Winston led them to two wins despite MSU being down two starters in each game. That’s MSU’s banner they get to look back on.

Let’s look back on other top outings for the Detroit-based guard…

• Season-high 29 points in a 70-64 win at Nebraska.
• Season-high 12 assists in games against Iowa (90-68 win) and Northwestern (roughly a 1,000-55 win).
• 25 points on 8-12 shooting at Ohio State in a 86-77 win.
• 23 points and five assists in a 77-59 win over Purdue.
• 23 points, six assists and six rebounds in a 67-59 win at Wisconsin.
• 28 points, eight assists and five rebounds in a comeback 71-60 win against Rutgers.