Michigan State basketball is in Florida for the Fort Myers Tip-Off, a two-game showcase against East Carolina and North Carolina. In the first contest, the Spartans played the Pirates of ECU. MSU dominated 89-56.
In such a dominating effort, there is not much to take away from the game. A couple of things stood out that are massive takeaways, and would be welcomed for this MSU team.
Here are three takeaways from the Spartans dominating win over ECU:
1. Divine Ugochukwu has found his offense
Divine Ugochukwu scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. This season Ugochukwu has shown signs of strong offensive play with a nice jump shot, but it hadn’t come together until today.
Michigan State doesn’t need Ugochukwu to be a double-digit scorer on a nightly basis, but if he can provide a small offensive spark off the bench, it adds a new dimension to MSU when Jeremy Fears Jr. is off the court.
2. If MSU has found its 3-point stroke, watch out
The Spartans went 13-for-28 (46%) from 3 against the Pirates on Tuesday, heating up once again from beyond the arc.
After going 13-of-60 (21.7%) through the first three games of the season, the Spartans have gone 32-for-77 (41.6%) in the last three games. They are one of the most dangerous teams in the nation if the 3-pointers are falling.
MSU is not as bad as the first three games indicate and probably not as good as the last three, the truth is in the middle, but the Spartans have shown that when the shots are falling, watch out.
3. This is an MSU team
The attitude and effort of this MSU team is outstanding, and a staple of what Tom Izzo built this program on. Despite being up 30 and 40 at times on Tuesday, you would never know it. The Spartans never acted like it wasn’t a one possession game, diving for loose balls, playing hard on defense, and most importantly, rebounding.
The attitude and effort we see from this team will propel them to win a lot of games this year. This is a tailormade Michigan State team, if I have ever seen one.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Three takeaways from Michigan State’s impressive win over ECU
Reporting by Cory Linsner, Spartans Wire / Spartans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
