Michigan State men’s basketball is off to its best start in three years, yet there is still plenty of room to grow.

Following a 78-68 win over Northwestern on Sunday, the Spartans sit at 14-2 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten on the 2024-2025 season.

It was a dominant first half performance. The Spartans shot 62% from the field and 67% in the first half. They won the rebounding battle 19-14 and they only turned the ball over three times against a Northwestern team that forced 14.5 turnovers per game coming into Sunday’s contest. Michigan State led the Wildcats at the break 47-28.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo was concerned about the game going in. His team’s haven’t had a whole lot of success recently at Northwestern. Also, it was a quick turnaround for the Spartans after playing on Thursday, while the Wildcats had a full week to prepare.

But, Izzo felt a buzz in the locker room before Sunday’s game.

“I could tell that they were ready to play,” he said on Monday regarding his team. “And now, the trick is, can you keep them that way for the number of games you got to play?”

Consistency – that might be the biggest question with this Michigan State team. Consistency is what separates the great teams from the elite teams. The Spartans were not consistent from the first half to the second half against Northwestern. They were outscored by Northwestern 40-31 and turned the ball over eight times.

“We have a lot of work to do to get more and more consistent,” Izzo said.

Part of staying consistent has a lot to do with staying focused. Focus is something that is unquantifiable. You can’t measure focus like you can measure shooting percentage or rebounds. So, what does focus look like for this team?