This is Izzo’s seventh top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament. 2 seed in the Final Four - certainly not one that can knock off high-powered Duke. (Sophomore big man Xavier Tillman scored 19 on Sunday, though.) Winston’s combination of passing and scoring efficiency makes him an outlier among high-major players.Įven with Winston, this Michigan State team does not look the part of a No. Outside of Winston and Ward, who now comes off the bench, no active Spartan was averaging double-digit scoring entering Sunday. And he maintained his assist clip despite the absence of his best playmaker. He drove to the basket more and shot 52 percent on 2-pointers. He took one extra shot per game but did not drop significantly in his shooting percentage. He played four more minutes per game and averaged 2 more points. When Langford’s season ended, Winston found another level. “He is as good a player as we’ve played against,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski in a press conference after the game on Sunday. He is second to Duke’s Zion Williamson in Ken Pomeroy’s offensive rating stat, among players with at least 28 percent of possessions used and 40 percent of minutes played. The junior point guard is second to Murray State’s Ja Morant in assist rate, at 45.4 percent. But they remained standing Sunday because Winston just kept doing more. At that point, it looked less likely every day that Tom Izzo would take the Spartans to his eighth Final Four. Its third-leading scorer, Nick Ward, missed the last five regular-season games with a hand injury. 1 overall seed lost its second-leading scorer, Joshua Langford, in late December. The team that vanquished the NCAA Tournament’s No. Four NBA draft prospects chased Winston around the court until he heaved the ball upward as the buzzer sounded. The Blue Devils could not foul him because they could not catch him. With 4.7 seconds left, up by one, Michigan State passed the ball out of bounds to Winston, who did the rest. WASHINGTON - At the end it was Cassius Winston, all alone, dribbling out the clock on Michigan State’s 68-67 victory against Duke on Sunday.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |