NCAAB Game Preview - Charleston Southern at Michigan State

Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:30 PM EST

Even though the season still has a long way to go, Michigan State has already experienced its share of ups and downs.

It began just before the campaign commenced when the Spartans found out they'd be without senior guard Joshua Langford until at least January as he continues to recover from a broken foot that forced him to miss the bulk of the 2018-19 season.

Then came the close loss to Kentucky in the Champions Classic to open the season, and before the Spartans could get back on the floor, they suffered a loss off the court with the death of Zachary Winston, the 19-year-old brother of star guard Cassius Winston and a close friend to many on the team.

The schedule, however, waits for nothing, and No. 3 Michigan State soon hit the road to take on No. 12 Seton Hall. The Spartans withstood a 37-point outing from Pirates senior Myles Powell to pull out a 76-73 win, thanks in large part to Winston scoring 13 of his 21 in the final nine minutes while freshman forward Malik Hall scored a career-high 17.

"I don't know what I learned about my team except that I said we have a bunch of good guys and they stay connected," coach Tom Izzo said. "I thought last year we weren't the most together team, but we were the most connected team."

This year's team clearly has the same connection as Michigan State (2-1) gets set to host Charleston Southern (1-3) on Monday in a campus game that's part of the Maui Invitational.

The Spartans are led by Winston, as many expected, but they're getting contributions from several others. Junior big man Xavier Tillman struggled against the size of Seton Hall while sophomore wing Aaron Henry was limited after rolling both of his ankles on one play. That led to Hall's emergence as well as some big buckets from freshman Rocket Watts, who saw more time at the point when Winston was in early foul trouble.

"We've got our problems yet," Izzo said. "We're not a finished product, but we've been dealing with a lot. We're still dealing with Langford's absence and now we're dealing with something that's bigger than life."

With two games against ranked opponents in the first three, Michigan State will be happy to welcome Charleston Southern, a team that has been blown out in three straight games. The most recent defeat came on Saturday at Dayton and the Buccaneers must now make the quick turnaround against one of the best teams in the country.

They'll be counting on sophomore guard Dontrell Shuler, who is averaging 20.0 points a game, as well as junior guard Phlandrous Fleming Jr., an All-Big South preseason first-teamer who is averaging 10.3 points and 8.0 rebounds a game.

"We've got to keep working," Charleston Southern coach Barclay Radebaugh said after a 91-47 loss to Furman last week. "When things don't go well how much character do we have? It's a great time to learn about character when things are a little sideways and it's not going exactly your way."

--Field Level Media