“What I give (Oakland) a lot of credit for, and us a lot of blame for, is we had some 15, 16, 17-point leads, they cut it back down to 12,” coach Tom Izzo said postgame. “That means we haven’t learned to step on a guy’s throat, and they haven’t learned to give up.” 

MSU led 45-32 at halftime after shooting 58.6 percent and only turning the ball over twice in the first half. Winston and junior forward Nick Ward each scored ten in the half, during which the Spartans featured an expanded rotation, playing four freshmen in meaningful minutes. 

“I think it’s big on our defense,” Winston said. “We lock in and get three, four, five stops even sometimes. We get in our transition and once we’re converting those, putting those stops together and converting on the other end, it’s hard to come back.”

Thomas Kithier, a young big from Macomb, impressed in one of the bigger opportunities he’s had so far. Against Oakland’s zone, he had two assists and displayed excellent positioning. 

Ward showed an array of moves that he hasn’t often displayed in his two-plus seasons on campus, knocking down two face-up baseline jumpers in the first half and dribbling past a defender for a smooth reverse layup in the second. 

“Nick was running the court," Izzo said. "He got in foul trouble, and that was a shame because he was having a monster night both ways. He looked good, he’s been working on (shooting) harder.” 

After being benched early in the first half for making careless passes, Winston responded, distributing the ball with far more precision, and repaying his coach’s faith in him to re-insert him at the first opportunity. His passing was instrumental to a 21-7 run by the Spartans midway through the first half, which expanded their lead to 16. The game never again got closer than 11. 

“Offensively, (Winston) was ready to shoot. I thought we did a good job of finding him,” Izzo said. “We pushed the ball pretty hard after the beginning, I thought he made a couple of nice floaters. But the passing and the way our guys moved the ball around the perimeter, he had some wide-open threes and he’s as good of a shooter as (anyone).” 

Xavier Hill-Mais, a redshirt junior forward, gave the Golden Grizzlies  17 on 8-of-20 shooting before fouling out with 7:45 remaining, providing a worthy challenge on the block to the big men of Michigan State, who are used to dominating Horizon League-caliber competition. 

Redshirt sophomore Karmari Newman, a Detroit East English grad and George Mason transfer, hit four triples early in the second half, keying a 7-0 Golden Grizzlies run to cut MSU’s lead to 12. Sophomore forward James Beck missed a bunny that could have gotten Oakland within 10 with 11:57 left, but they could never get the crucial bucket.

“When you’re prepared for (Michigan State), you thought there were things you could do against them,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “Then you go play them, and you find out you can’t … I’ve never seen a Michigan State team that fast. I’ve seen fast teams. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any team like that.” 

Michigan State resumes play on Saturday at 2 p.m against Northern Illinois inside the Breslin Center.