Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Tom Izzo compares Cassius Winston to Mateen Cleaves, Magic Johnson

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

When Cassius Winston’s career comes to an end, he’s going to be remembered as one of the best players in program history. The do-it-all guard has been the engine that has willed the Spartans to a B1G regular season title, a conference tournament championship and now a Final Four.

On Tuesday, head coach Tom Izzo met with the media and was asked about Winston, specifically regarding how he compares to other Michigan State greats Mateen Cleaves and Magic Johnson, both of whom led the Spartans to a national title.

Izzo sees Winston in a similar light.

“He scores points, he’s playing better defense, he’s making other players score points and he almost gets to coach the team a little bit,” Izzo said, according to Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press. Izzo pointed out that those were the things that Cleaves and Johnson did, as well.

Winston was the B1G Player of the Year and has been magnificent for the Spartans all year. In Michigan State’s win over Duke to reach the Final Four, the guard totaled 20 points and 10 assists with just one turnover while playing all 40 minutes.

For the entire weekend, Winston played 79 of the 80 minutes.

Izzo also said that Winston’s teammates respect him and are willing to follow his lead on the court. It’s a big reason behind Michigan State’s success in the regular season and through the NCAA Tournament.

“That means anything he does and says, you do follow,” Izzo said.

Michigan State will take on Texas Tech in the Final Four on Saturday evening with a trip to the title game on the line. The Spartans have not won an NCAA championship since 2000.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB