ROSEMONT, Ill. — Cassius Winston was unanimously chosen as the 2019-20 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, voted on by a panel of conference media members.
Winston, a senior guard out of Detroit, led the Spartans to a regular season and Big Ten Tournament title, as well as a trip to the 2019 Final Four in Minneapolis during the 2018-19 season. After the year, he was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, and is the first reigning Player of the Year to be selected as the Preseason Player of the Year the next season since former Spartan guard Kalin Lucas when he won Player of the Year after the 2008-09 season and was the Preseason Player of the Year for the 2009-10 season.
Winston was also unanimously named to the 2019-20 Preseason All-Big Ten Team, which also includes junior forward Xavier Tillman.
In 39 games last season, Winston averaged just under 19 points, while adding 7.5 assists and three rebounds in 33.5 minutes played per game.
He made the decision to return for his senior season to lead a Michigan State basketball team that could be the preseason No. 1 team in the country. Along with Winston, the Spartans return over 40 points per game from their Final Four squad, including Tillman, seniors Joshua Langford and Kyle Ahrens and sophomores Aaron Henry and Gabe Brown. MSU also brings into East Lansing the 27th-best recruiting class in the country, which includes four-star guard Mark "Rocket" Watts, and forwards Malik Hall and Julius Marble.
The Spartans begin the season with an exhibition game against Albion on October 29 at the Breslin Center (7:00 p.m., BTN-plus), before opening the regular season in the Champions Classic against Kentucky at Madison Square Garden on November 5 (TBA, ESPN).
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