ANN ARBOR – A week ago, when MSU trailed big early at Illinois, coming off a bad loss to Indiana, it was just about impossible to picture what’s transpired since — three straight wins, at Illinois, over Purdue and, Friday night, at Michigan in the biggest game this series has seen in six years.

Frankly, there were times in the first half Friday where it was hard to picture it. Certainly not a 75-62 win — a win that gave MSU sole possession of first place in the Big Ten for the time being. At 13-3, the Spartans are a half-game up on Michigan (12-3), with games at Maryland, home against Wisconsin, at Iowa and home against Michigan still to go.

If MSU plays the rest of the way how it did in the second half Friday — defensively pestering the Wolverines into eight turnovers and 38% shooting, getting its defensive rotations cleaned up to guard the 3-point line effectively and offensively making shots and playing more decisively against a zone that caused them fits for a long time — the Spartans might just finish this thing off.

This game will be remembered for Jase Richardson’s performance (more below), for Tre Holloman’s flurry of 3-pointers in the middle of the second half — he finished with 18 points and made three 3s on successive positions — and for the response when things looked shaky. Holloman and Richardson were a big part of that. MSU doubled up Michigan on the offensive glass and, in the second half especially, used different matchups to bother Michigan’s Danny Wolf, who made just 2 of 7 shots after the break.

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This would be an incredibly meaningful Big Ten title for this MSU team and Tom Izzo’s program, given the mediocrity they’ve struggled to escape the last few seasons. There’s a lot of work still to do, but the finish line is in sight. A championship is definitely plausible. 

2. Jase Richardson becomes the guy

One of the well-known strengths and weaknesses of this MSU team is that you never know exactly where the buckets are going to come from. It’s hard to scout, but also sometimes uneasy to watch.

Consider Friday the night that line of thinking changed. Offensively, this show begins with Jase Richardson. On a night when for a long while MSU had no other consistent shot-maker, in the biggest game of the season, on a rival’s home court, Richardson carried them well into the second half, until Tre Holloman caught fire, and then again after that.

The thing about stars is they have to be enough when nothing else is going. We’ve seen Richardson do that before. But you could see this one coming early. He looked up for it. He looked like a pro on the court. 

There is a fearlessness to him, coupled with the sense that it’s going to work out when he has the ball. When he shoots, everyone thinks it’s going in.

Same for defenses, which I think had moved on from the anyone-anytime-who-knows way of scouting MSU a while ago. Some of that has to do with Jaden Akins’ shooting struggles. They fear Richardson more. You could see it in how attentive Michigan was with Richardson. Didn’t matter. That’s also part of being the guy.

We’ll see if a freshman can keep doing it down the stretch and beyond. But if it’s going to happen, it’s him. 

That was certainly the case Friday, when he tallied 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting — hitting big-time shots early and late, on the catch, off the dribble and on the drive — to go with six rebounds and two steals.

MSU would have lost by double digits without him. Instead it somehow won by double digits.

3. MSU figures out the zone — by hitting shots and playing decisively

Tom Izzo knew Michigan’s zone defense was coming when he dared another MSU opponent to play zone after the Spartans struggled with it in a loss to Indiana.

To beat a zone, you have to be decisive and you have to make shots. The Spartans were 0-for-2 heading into halftime.

In the second half, MSU played with more purpose offensively and looked more attack-minded. Even guys who weren’t hitting shots. 

And they hit shots — 6 of 12 3s, 16 of 30 buckets overall. 

I’d still zone this team if I were facing it and had it in my arsenal. But this was a promising response.

Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.