At the end of the day, Cassius Winston.
That was the essence of what Tom Izzo had to say following Michigan State's 77-70 victory over Michigan Sunday afternoon. It was a team win, Izzo began, from the training staff all the way up to the players. It was a group effort, through and through. True, no team goes on the road and takes down its rival, a rival ranked No. 7 in the nation, without all hands on deck.
"But when it was all said and done," Izzo decided, "probably the guy that's been scrutinized the most by me and you, Cassius Winston was unbelievable."
That's but one superlative. Several more would do. Winston was, well, just so purely Winston as he racked up 27 points, including 19 in the second half, and eight assists in what Izzo's counterpart called one of the best games he's ever seen by a point guard at Crisler Center. And John Beilein's seen a few.
"We've had a lot of point guards come into this building. I've coached some great ones. That was as good a performance as you can see," Beilein said.
At times, Winston diced up Michigan's defense by swinging it, kicking it or dropping it in down low. But he did most of his damage where he makes his money, snaking into the lane with that deft dribble of his, the one he keeps so low to the floor, and then pulling up or handing off.
And he did it primarily against Zavier Simpson, the linchpin of Michigan's terrific ball-screen defense.
"He destroyed our ball-screen defense," Beilein said. "Destroyed it."
Simpson and the Wolverines hadn't seen a player this season with Winston's bag of tricks. He's one of the top three-point shooters in the Big Ten, and he scored 27 points without hitting a single three. He got to the rim when he needed to, converting a couple acrobatic layups that sent him tumbling to the floor with a thud, and was lethal with his mid-range game, one of the best in the country.
When it's working, Beilein said, it's all but impossible to defend.
"He just gets into those little areas and then he's got that floater game that very, very few players have. It is an art to be able to go full speed, stop, float it up and get it to go in. He's one of the best I've ever seen at it," Beilein said.
Right now, this is what separates Michigan and Michigan State. The Spartans have a guarantee in their newly-named captain, a go-to guy in No. 5. The Wolverines have arguably five guys they can go to, but no one they trust no matter what. Michigan State will either win or lose this March because Winston does or doesn't make a play.
Michigan may lose because it's not clear who that player might be.
This is somewhat new territory for Beilein, who acknowledged on Friday it's a bit different to coach a team without an alpha on offense. For better or worse, he doesn't have an automatic answer with the game on the line.
Who's taking that shot?
Well, it depends on a combination of matchups...and personnel...and which plays exploit which matchups...and which personnel can make which plays...and suffice to say Beilein is deciding on the fly.
Izzo, on other hand, never has to think twice -- which is certainly a departure from last year's team, when there were several more mouths to feed. It's not a coincidence that Winston's best game of the season came when his two most talented teammates, Joshua Langford and Nick Ward, were off the floor.
Some players crumble under more weight. Winston, somehow, looks lighter.
On Sunday, it wasn't just the pressure of doing it all. It was the pressure of doing it all shortly after being named captain, an impromptu decision Izzo made last week after Ward was lost to his hand injury.
The Spartans were already down one captain in Langford. Now they were down their starting center. They needed a boost, Izzo figured, and Winston would have to be the one to provide it.
"I just felt like this is his time to step forward," Izzo said. "I told him what responsibilities he had, and tonight I used those exact works: 'You gotta put us on your shoulders.'"
It's not hard to imagine Winston's reaction, nodding coolly and telling his coach he's got this. Indeed, reminded of that little pep talk, Winston sounded like he knew it was coming. What's a point guard for, if not taking the reins when the ride gets rough?
"We talked about it, it's gonna be a lot on my shoulders, just because of the player that I am, the position that I play, the things I can do for this team," said Winston. "He said there's going to be a lot of situations where I'm going to have to win games.
"I don't want to say I won it tonight, but down the stretch I made big plays, made some free throws, things like that, and my team did a good job of making big plays with me."
Michigan was up 53-52 with about 10 minutes to play. From there, Winston scored 13 points and added two assists, and the Spartans ran out of Crisler with their biggest win of the season. Izzo called it the biggest win of his career in this building.
When the clock struck zero, Winston had played all 40 minutes, a first in his three seasons at Michigan State. The fatigue didn't him until he was walking into the locker room and the adrenaline started to subside. He said his legs felt a little heavier.
Nothing about his shoulders, though, which continue to bear more weight.
"He was as fresh as I've seen him," Izzo said. "He played good defense, too, by the way, and I'm the most critical of that of anybody. He was great in every way. I kept asking him, 'You tired?' and he didn't even wince."
