Michigan State Basketball

The Big Ten title doesn't belong to Maryland just yet.

No. 24 Michigan State made sure of that Saturday with an emphatic 78-66 victory over the conference's first-place team in a game that could've cliched the regular-season title for the Terrapins. 

Instead, MSU is just one game back with a week to go. 

The biggest contest of the year in College Park went off the rails quickly for the hosts when the Spartans opened an 18-point lead before entering halftime ahead 40-29. Cassius Winston led the way with 20 points on the night, as four MSU starters scored in double figures. 

Forward Jalen Smith did his best to pull the Terps back into the game, finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

It was another Saturday filled with upsets as No. 2 Baylor, No. 7 Duke, No. 6 Florida State, No. 12 Villanova and No. 22 Texas Tech all lost. No defeat will hurt more than Maryland's, however, which prevented a conference championship.

As for what went wrong for Maryland, Terps coach Mark Turgeon pointed to two areas in his postgame press conference. The first: There were too many Spartans making threes that Turgeon thought the team would be OK with sagging off defensively (MSU went 12-of-28 from three).

The other problem was Winston. 

"There's not many guys that's as good as he is in ball screens and recognizing things and making open shots," Turgeon said. "They were good. That's all I can say. They were really, really good."

The coach added he felt Michigan State was a different team than the one Maryland defeated 67-60 in East Lansing two weeks ago.

Turgeon's counterpart was happy with the result.

"Well, as you can imagine, that was a hell of a win for us," Tom Izzo said as he stepped to the podium in College Park. 

Another few games like this and Michigan State could grab the top seed in the Big Ten tournament.

Former Michigan State star Keith Appling was arrested Feb. 8 and charged with delivery or manufacture of less than 50 grams of a controlled substance and driving without a license, according to the Detroit Free Press' Darcie Moran on Saturday.

Authorities pulled Appling over in Warren, Michigan, after he was allegedly driving erratically and discovered a "golf ball-sized amount of heroin" in his car.

Appling was arrested in August 2016, his third arrest that year, after being pulled over and briefly evading police. He was sentenced to a year in jail in August 2017 for carrying a concealed weapon and resisting police.

According to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), the 28-year-old was on parole at the time of his most recent arrest. He will hire a lawyer and is due in court Feb. 25.

Appling spent four years at Michigan State and helped the Spartans reach the Elite Eight of the 2014 NCAA tournament. After going undrafted, he played two seasons in the NBA G League and made five appearances for the Orlando Magic in 2015-16.

The Michigan Wolverines scored a 77-68 rivalry win over the No. 16 Michigan State Spartans on Saturday at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Michigan, which is on the NCAA tournament bubble with a month left in the regular season, improved to 14-9 with a 5-7 record in Big Ten play thanks to the minor upset. It also moved the team's mark to 4-4 against ranked opponents this season.

Zavier Simpson led the way with 16 points and eight assists. Isaiah Livers added 14 points.

Michigan State has now dropped three straight games and five of its past eight to fall to 16-8. The Spartans' 87-69 win over Michigan in the teams' first meeting last month is one of just two victories over ranked foes during the current campaign.

Cassius Winston tallied 20 points, six assists and four rebounds but made just five of his 18 shots from the field. Xavier Tillman chipped in a double-double (17 points and 12 boards).

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard will likely be most pleased with the team's improvement at the defensive end.

"They got too many open looks," Howard told reporters after a loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions last month. "It was because of a lack of communication on the defensive end—and it's January 22. ... It's very challenging to come up here and have to talk about that we're not communicating enough. I don't understand why."

It held MSU to 33.3 percent shooting, including 26.1 percent from three-point range. It's the second straight ranked opponent the Spartans held below 35 percent from the field. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights posted similar numbers (32.5 percent FGs; 25 percent 3s) against Michigan last Saturday.

The Wolverines' have made steady progress on that end of the floor since Howard's comments, and it's helped them take some key steps toward a March Madness berth.

Meanwhile, Michigan State opened the season as the No. 1 team in the country, but it has rarely showcased that type of high-end form during an up-and-down season.

Trying to get more balance offensively should be the focus during the stretch run of the regular season for the Spartans, who are an NCAA tournament lock.

Too many times during the second half of Saturday's game it was Winston or nothing at the offensive end. He attempted nine of his 18 shots in the final 6:31 as MSU tried to mount a comeback.

Michigan State still has the talent to make a deep run in March. The onus is on the team's secondary contributors, led by Gabe Brown (0 points Saturday), Malik Hall (8) and Rocket Watts (7), to start making their presence felt more consistently, though.

The Spartans remain on the road to face the No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini on Tuesday, while the Wolverines are back to the floor Wednesday when they visit the Northwestern Wildcats.

There wasn't one area of Tuesday night's game that the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils didn't dominate in the eyes of No. 11 Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo.

"Outcoached, outplayed, outworked," Izzo told reporters after his team's 87-75 loss at Michigan State's Breslin Center.

The 25th-year Spartans head coach added: "I'm embarrassed."

Izzo's embarrassment, he noted, was partially due to Draymond Green being present to have his No. 23 Spartans jersey number retired at halftime. 

"I'm embarrassed that a player that I love came back here and probably laid some of the groundwork with Mateen Cleaves on toughness and I don't think we played with that tonight," Izzo continued.

Duke led 45-29 at halftime. Michigan State's largest deficit of the night was 21 points.

The last time Duke and Michigan State met, the Spartans ousted the Blue Devils in the Elite 8 68-67. It seems much has to improve in East Lansing for Izzo's squad to make another deep run in March. 

Despite MSU's early struggles, KenPom still has the Spartans ranked third behind Louisville and Duke—both of whom have beaten Michigan State.

The 5-3 Spartans don't play another ranked opponent until No. 4 Michigan pays them a visit on Jan. 5.

Michigan State can begin getting back on track Sunday night when against Rutgers. 

The NCAA has denied Joey Hauser's waiver appeal, making him ineligible to play for Michigan State this season. 

Per The Athletic's Brendan Quinn, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said Thursday that Hauser's appeal was officially denied. 

Izzo added he feels like the NCAA makes "arbitrary decisions" in the appeals process and feels "devastated" that Hauser will have to sit out the 2019-20 season. 

Per the Associated Press (via ESPN), Izzo "abruptly" resigned from a coaches board Thursday due to his anger over the NCAA's decision. 

In May, Hauser announced on Twitter his commitment to play for the Spartans. 

Izzo told reporters in October that the NCAA denied Hauser's initial waiver, but the school appealed that decision and was waiting for a second ruling. 

"We're resubmitting, and we're trying to get more and more information, we're trying to gather more and more information because there have been three or four more (waivers) that just came out," Izzo said at the time. "So we're trying to constantly gather. We've also been told that every (situation) is different, so you can't compare one to the other. So you try to find as many that are really comparable to this situation."

Under official NCAA rules, schools must file a transfer waiver on behalf of a student-athlete if they don't meet the standard transfer exception and the organization reviews the request to determine the student athlete's eligibility status. 

The review process includes looking at mitigating circumstances from the student athlete's previous school, including egregious behavior, mental health and being run-off. 

Hauser spent the 2018-19 season at Marquette, where he played all 34 games. The Wisconsin native averaged 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest. 

Michigan State was ranked No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll. A season-opening loss to Kentucky dropped the Spartans into third, but they have rebounded with three straight wins. 

Michigan State guard Cassius Winston will play Sunday's game against Binghamton after the death of his younger brother, Zachary.

Winston warmed up prior to the contest and was later named in the starting lineup:

"We're gonna play with a broken heart," head coach Tom Izzo said, per Matt Charboneau of the Detroit News.

Kyle Austin of MLive reported Zachary Winston, who was a player on the Albion College men's basketball team, died Saturday night at 19 years old after he was hit by a train.

Albion Chief of Public Safety Scott Kipp said police believe Winston intentionally stepped in front of the train following an investigation.

"Their pain over the sudden loss of Zachary is unimaginable," Izzo said. "It's impossible to find the right words in this moment, other than to say that we will support the family in whatever way they need."

Cassius Winston's other younger brother, Khy, is a freshman on Albion's basketball team.

Cassius Winston returned to the Spartans as the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and a primary reason they were ranked No. 1 in the country upon the start of the season. They are 0-1 on the campaign following an opening loss to the Kentucky Wildcats.

Albion College basketball player Zachary Winston died Saturday night after being hit by a train, according to Kyle Austin of MLive.com.

Winston is the younger brother of Michigan State star Cassius Winston.

Albion Chief of Public Safety Scott Kipp said the police believe the 19-year-old stepped in front of the train intentionally.

"Last night, our family lost a student. And as families do in difficult times, we must come together to mourn and to embrace one another. We have been in close contact with the student’s family and are doing everything we can to support them," Albion College President Mauri Ditzler said in a statement.

The sophomore averaged 2.6 points per game last season in 28 appearances for the Division III school.

The youngest of three brothers, Khy, is a freshman on the same team.

Cassius is the oldest brother and the most well-known nationally as a key player for one of the biggest programs in college basketball. The guard was a consensus All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year last season and returned for his senior year to a squad that entered the year as the No. 1 team in the country.

He was the only consensus selection to the preseason All-American team this season.

On the first day of the 2019-20 NCAA men's basketball season, Michigan State is a slight Division I national championship favorite over Kansas and Kentucky.

The Spartans are the +550 favorites at the Caesars Sportsbook (bet $100 to win $550), with the Jayhawks and Wildcats trailing closely behind at +600.

Michigan State, which opened as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press' Top 25 poll, will have an opportunity Tuesday night to further cement itself as the country's best team. Tom Izzo's squad plays Kentucky at New York's Madison Square Garden in one of the year's most highly anticipated matchups.

Xavier Tillman and reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Cassius Winston return from last year's Spartans team, which won 32 games and reached the Final Four. Izzo has the pieces necessary to capture his second title, although Joshua Langford is out indefinitely with a foot injury.

Among the early contenders, no team is a bigger wild card than Memphis.

The Tigers won 22 games in Penny Hardaway's first season as head coach, and the 48-year-old's biggest success came on the recruiting trail as he assembled the No. 1 class in 247Sports' composite rankings. The group includes James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa, who were ranked first and 15th, respectively.

The 15-year NBA guard has shown he can sell prep stars on the general direction of the program. Now it's up to the former Memphis basketball legend to show he can make the most of that talent on the floor.

The Tigers' first test comes Nov. 12 when they play No. 15 Oregon in Portland.

Michigan State is retiring Draymond Green's No. 23 jersey on Dec. 3, when the Spartans host No. 4 Duke.

Prior to winning three NBA titles and becoming a three-time All-Star with the Golden State Warriors, Green was the 2012 Big Ten Player of the Year as Michigan State reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

Green didn't get off to a great start in East Lansing. Bruce Simmons, who was one of his assistant coaches in high school, told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne he had vented about possibly transferring from the school as a freshman:

"His freshman year at Michigan State, he got one minute against Ohio State. He called and said, 'Coach Bruce, I'm going to transfer. F--k this s--t.' And I said, 'Noooo. We don't do that. This is what you're going to do. You're going to go into practice. [Senior] Marquise Gray is getting your minutes. Bust his ass. Talk s--t to him. And then when you're doing that, look at Izzo, because Izzo is putting this [guy] on the court instead of you.'"

Green obviously stayed and steadily improved across each year with the Spartans. He went from averaging 11.4 minutes as a freshman to winning the Big Ten's Sixth Man of the Year award as a sophomore in 2009-10. In his junior year, he became a regular member of the starting rotation.

By the time he left, he was 18th all time at Michigan State in scoring (1,517 points) and first in rebounds (1,096).

Green's legacy has lasted well beyond his on-court career, too. A few months after signing a five-year, $82 million contract with the Warriors, he donated $3.1 million to Michigan State athletics in September 2015.

Green will be the 10th player to have his jersey officially retired by the school. The other nine are: Scott Skiles, Mateen Cleaves, Steve Smith, Johnny Green, Shawn Respert, Jay Vincent, Gregory Kelser, Magic Johnson and Morris Peterson.

The top-ranked Michigan State Spartans will play without star guard Joshua Langford for at least two months due to a recurrence of the foot injury that plagued him last season. 

Head coach Tom Izzo told reporters Tuesday that Langford will miss an indefinite period of time and be re-evaluated in January. 

"I love Josh Langford," Izzo said during his press conference. "He's given me everything on the court, off the court, in the classroom."

Langford, who will be a senior this season, was limited to 13 games in 2018-19 with what Izzo described as a "stress" injury to his foot.

The Alabama native was averaging a career-high 15.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game before his junior year came to an abrupt end. 

Izzo announced in August that Langford had been fully cleared for basketball activities. He was expected to play a significant role for a Spartans team the Associated Press put atop its preseason rankings with 60 of 65 first-place votes. 

Michigan State still has Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman to lead the team this season. The Spartans will open the 2019-20 campaign Nov. 5 against No. 2 Kentucky at Madison Square Garden in the Champions Classic.