Michigan State basketball: 3-game winning streak may have saved the season

Michigan State basketball has won three straight games and while that may not seem like much, it may have saved the season.

Michigan State basketball is starting to look like who we thought they’d be all offseason. The Spartans are currently riding a three-game winning streak heading into the holiday break. On paper, a three-game winning streak is not that impressive, especially for a program like Michigan State. But this three-game streak is more impressive than you might think.

Three-game winning streak came at the perfect time

Before diving into each game individually, let’s first look at the magnitude of these wins overall. Heading into the Baylor game, the Spartans were 4-5 with losses in three of their last four games. They were also coming off an 0-2 start to Big Ten play, so things weren’t looking good, to say the least.

The NCAA Tournament streak looked to be in jeopardy and the team looked mentally checked out. Fast forward one short week and all those negative thoughts have done a complete 180. Thanks in large part to the first win that started this streak.

Baylor Bears

This game likely will go down as the turning point for Michigan State’s season. The Bears were no match for MSU, even as an undefeated and No. 6 team in the country. How did MSU respond after their recent struggles? By setting a program record for the largest win against a top-10 opponent.

Tyson Walker led the way in this game that was never really a game. Walker led the Spartans to a 24-point win behind 25 points of his own and a perfect 5-for-5 from 3-point range. Michigan State needed this win badly, to say the least. It was its last chance for a marquee non-conference win after it had already lost to Duke and Arizona.

Baylor was also one of the hottest teams in the country and one of the last undefeated teams in the nation. That alone is impressive, but combining that with their next game takes it to another level.

Oakland Golden Grizzlies

It’s hard to ever say that beating a mid-major is an impressive feat. But the factors surrounding this game made it more impressive than you might think.

Michigan State and Oakland both entered this game at 5-5. But how would the Spartans respond after such an emotional win against Baylor? This game also came just two days after the win over Baylor which is not much time to celebrate the big win while getting ready for Oakland.

This matchup had “letdown” or “trap” game written all over it. But that wasn’t the case. Michigan State basketball cruised in the second half to a 17-point victory, led once against by Walker with 14 points and a near double-double for Mady Sissoko. Winning this game as convincingly as the Spartans did with all the difficult circumstances surrounding the game was no small feat. But MSU showed it is mentally strong and is capable of beating a team handily like it’s supposed to.

Stony Brook Seawolves

The Spartans had one final test before Christmas break, and that is one reason this win was impressive. Stony Brook was by far the worst team out of these three, but the game before a long Christmas break is always a scary one. Many teams every year lose a game this time of year to a team they should beat. Players routinely look ahead to some time off and don’t handle business when they should.

This Stony Brook team also had some momentum as well. They were only 6-5 heading into this game, but they were riding their own four-game winning streak. So how did MSU handle that? By dominating the Seawolves en route to a 44-point victory.

Up next for the Spartans is a sneaky good Indiana State team. You might ask why we should worry about this game as the Sycamores are another mid-major at the end of the day. Well, this mid-major just so happens to be 11-1 this season.

Granted their schedule has been very easy, and the one Power Six team they have played beat them by 22. But 11 wins is 11 wins, and MSU has to show up if they’re going to win this game.