Tom Izzo explains how much confidence Michigan State can gain from blowout win over Baylor

Michigan State could not have had a much worse start than what they went through over their first nine games. However, that’s what made their 24-point win over Baylor, the most important result of their season so far, as good as it was.

Following the 88-64 victory over the Top-10 ranked Bears in Detroit, though, Tom Izzo said he isn’t sure how much will carry over from this win to the next game of the Spartans’ season.

“I don’t know how much confidence you get,” said Izzo.

Even so, Izzo does hope that, if anything, his team will realize how they earned this outcome specifically. They built it off of their defense by holding Baylor to their lowest scoring output of the year by far.

If that’s how Michigan State has to win games, Izzo is all for it and desires to see his team continue to play that way.

“I think what they should realize is we did it the old-fashioned way. That got us going,” Izzo said. “As dumb as it sounds? On the first play, we hold them to a shot-clock violation against one of the best offensive teams we’ve played all year.”

Michigan State broke out of their slump and absolutely hammered Baylor inside of Little Caesar’s Arena. They took as much as a 30-point lead by the end of the first half and never looked back once.

On offense, they shot a blistering 63.3% from the field, including 66.7% from three. They also outdid the Bears in assists while outscoring them in the paint, on the fastbreak, and off the bench.

Meanwhile, defensively, Baylor had a long afternoon in the Motor City. They made just 31.8% of their shots in the first half and finished with 21 total turnovers. That dug them into a hole that they’d never come close to getting themselves out of, even after a better second half.

This is the kind of outing that could reenergize Michigan State after coming into the year as a top-five team.

Even so, Izzo doesn’t want his team getting too ahead of themselves. They have to build off this victory by winning their next one, a matchup with the Golden Grizzlies on Monday, in order for the result against Baylor to have meant anything.

“Hopefully we can build on that,” said Izzo. “Hopefully, the confidence helps us on the bus ride home. Then we’re going to start over on Oakland.