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Michigan State Basketball: 3 things we learned vs. Northwestern

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:15 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Connor Muldowney/FanSided via Spartan Avenue

Michigan State basketball recorded its second Big Ten win on Friday night over Northwestern and here’s what we learned.

It’s crazy to think that Michigan State basketball is having its best run of the year without star forward Miles Bridges. In fact, the Spartans are 6-1 in his absence and they might just be getting him back next week, which would be even worse news for the rest of the Big Ten.

Must Read: MSU Basketball: 5 bold predictions for December

Winning the first two games of conference play is nice, but doing so against teams with a combined 23-3 record coming in is even sweeter. Michigan State is 2-0 and now 10-5 overall on the year, looking to ride this wave into the rest of the conference regular season.

The Spartans are playing good basketball, for the most part, right now and should have come away with an even bigger lead yesterday against the Wildcats, but the offense lulled itself to sleep at the end of the first and middle of the second halves.

Here’s what we learned from Michigan State’s nine-point win over Northwestern.

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1. Miles Bridges is likely to play Wednesday

This is speculation, but it seems pretty clear that Miles Bridges is going to play on Wednesday night against Rutgers. If there was ever a game to ease the freshman sensation back into the rotation, it’s against the Scarlet Knights. He was dressed and warmed up with the team on Friday, looking like his old self. He took a number of jumpers and wasn’t favoring any one side. Heck, he was even dunking in the layup lines with authority. I’d be shocked if he didn’t play next game.

2. Alvin Ellis may not be a one-hit wonder, after all

I’ll admit it, I’m not 100 percent planted on the Alvin Ellis III bandwagon, and that’s OK. The Spartans are getting good minutes out of him right now and he’s filling in while Eron Harris is struggling and with Bridges out. However, he’s put together two straight solid games, recording 20 in a Big Ten opening win over Minnesota and 16 against Northwestern. Can he keep this up?

3. Matt McQuaid, Eron Harris have no confidence left

These two guys could be lights-out shooters for the Spartans, but it’s clear that Tom Izzo has laid into them so many times that they’re afraid to even put up a shot. Matt McQuaid was left open multiple times but ended up missing a couple of threes and passing up a few more. Harris played only 14 minutes and took four shots. That’s not what you want from a senior leader.

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