Indianapolis - Coming off a one-point loss to Gonzaga in San Diego in a game where the Spartans led throughout, Michigan State faced a second heavyweight opponent in Top 5 Kentucky in the Champions Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Unlike their game on the aircraft carrier against Gonzaga, the Spartans found a way to pull out a victory in a hard-fought game that was decided in double overtime.

Continue below for our Three-and-Out from Michigan State’s 86-77 win over Kentucky.

The biggest takeaway from this Champions Classic Game against Kentucky is that Michigan State has a chance to be a good team, perhaps a great team. Sometimes a Michigan State win in the Champions Classic doesn’t always signal a championship-type season. A few years back, we saw a flawed Michigan State team beat a flawed Duke team. Neither program had the type of that we’ve come to expect from the four programs that participate in this event each year.

After watching the performance of both Michigan State and Kentucky tonight, I am confident that both will be relevant over the course of the season. Kentucky has depth, experience, and the talent to be in the mix for a Final Four run. I am not ready to put Michigan State in that boat quite yet, but this is a Spartan team that has championship-worthy qualities that have shown themselves impressively thus far.

If Michigan State hadn’t followed up an unexpectedly competitive one-point loss to Gonzaga with a solid showing in this game, there is a good chance that the Spartans’ game against Gonzaga would have been dismissed as an outlier.

Nobody can dismiss Michigan State after this game. Sure, you can argue as Kentucky coach John Calipari did during his post-game press conference that this Kentucky team isn’t what it will be after Oscar Tshiebwe has fully knocked off the rust from time off after a minor surgical procedure.

I’ll give Calipari that. But I’d also counter that Michigan State has plenty of growing of its own to do. Sophomores Jaden Akins and Pierre Brooks aren’t the players they will be with seasoning. And Akins, like Tshiebwe, has some rust to knock off.

Then there’s Michigan State’s freshman centers. Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper played nine and four minutes respectively. As they gain experience, I expect both to be solid contributors. Kohler showed some fight tonight under fire. He’s got some grit. And I saw enough from Cooper to believe that had he been available to play against Gonzaga, there’s a good chance that the outcome might have been different.

AJ Hoggard struggled in this game because he put himself ahead of his teammates on too many occasions. This is a guy that has capacity to routinely post double-digit assists on nights when teammates are knocking down open jumpers as they were tonight. Hoggard could have easily had 10 plus assists in this game had he made better decisions when choosing whether to try to muscle his way to the basket against long, athletic Kentucky defenders or to get the ball to teammates in better position to score.

If Michigan State had lost this game, Hoggard would have probably shouldered much of the blame. He was certainly the guy drawing the most ire from Izzo on the sideline after those all too frequent instances in which he turned the ball over.

Hoggard had moments of brilliance in this game. Like the outlet pass he threw to Tyson Walker, who then found Malik Hall streaking to the basket for game-tying dunk to force double overtime.

Hoggard also played quality defense throughout this game, and he was also big factor on the glass with five rebounds.

Hoggard did enough good things in this game to cancel out the bad, but he almost didn’t. Even though this was probably a net positive performance for Hoggard, I understand completely why Izzo was bothered by his junior point guard on several occasions throughout this game.

The frustrating thing for Izzo is that Hoggard knows better and continues to make the wrong decision on too many occasions. Until Hoggard reins himself in a bit, Michigan State will not become the best version of itself.

Calipari made it clear to his players that airtight defense on Joey Hauser would be key to playing winning defense against Michigan State. Kentucky players, like a lot of Michigan State fans whining about Hauser’s shooting woes on the deck of aircraft carrier against Gonzaga, did not get the memo.

Hauser, or whoever is playing the critical stretch four role Michigan State, makes the whole darn offense work. We saw it in the first half, when the Spartans fell behind by five points only to be bailed out by threes from Tyson Walker and Hauser on back-to-back trips down the floor.

Tonight’s version of Hauser is the real deal. I’m not saying there won’t be off nights in the future for Hauser. His tendency to get himself into foul trouble will likely continue to crop up throughout the season.

Be that as it may, Michigan State would not have been within 10 points of Kentucky in this game if Hauser hadn’t delivered the best performance of his career.

What I liked most about Hauser’s performance tonight, beyond the 23 points and 8 rebounds, was the confidence I saw from him at the post-game press conference, as he joked about being glad to have played in a controlled environment rather than outdoors.

It’s refreshing to see that Hauser truly doesn’t care what you or I think about his game. He believes in himself. An off night isn’t going to shake his confidence. That’s progress.