EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Cassius Winston breezed smoothly toward the basket for a layup. Then he checked out of the game moments later, stopping for a hug with coach Tom Izzo on the way back to join his teammates on the sideline.
This was a weekend when basketball was put in perspective — but maybe provided a bit of comfort as well.
Playing a night after the death of his brother, Winston had 17 points and 11 assists to lift No. 1 Michigan State to an emotional 100-47 victory over Binghamton in the Spartans’ home opener Sunday night. Zachary Winston, Cassius’ younger brother, died after being hit by a westbound Amtrak train in Albion on Saturday night. He was a basketball player at Albion College.
Cassius Winston took his usual spot in Michigan State’s starting lineup Sunday. The crowd observed a moment of silence in Zachary’s honor, then Cassius assisted on Michigan State’s first basket and sank his first shot, a 3-pointer from near the top of the key.
“There was a lot of love in that locker room, and a lot of love in that arena,” Izzo said. “But it’s going to have to probably double, because I think the road gets a little tougher for him.”
Izzo said he found out the news shortly after midnight, then spent several hours with Winston and his family. It wasn’t clear if the star point guard would play.
“I guess if I was to be honest, I expected him not to play, but everyone grieves a different way, and we left it a hundred percent up to Cassius,” Izzo said. “His brothers are the world to him. I’ve never seen a kid over my years that was as close with his brothers. Zachary grew up around the team so much. He grew close to all the guys.”
The game was a rout, as expected. Michigan State (1-1) rebounded easily from its season-opening loss Tuesday to No. 2 Kentucky.
Izzo figured the game might have been an adrenaline rush for Winston.
“He was spectacular,” Izzo said. “The assists he made in that first half, I caught myself saying, ‘Wow.’”
Winston’s final basket came when he shook past a defender and drove for a layup. He was taken out immediately after that, receiving a hug from Izzo and a standing ovation from the crowd.
Tillman and Kyle Ahrens were the two Michigan State players made available to reporters after the game. They were asked about their memories of Zachary Winston.
“Always made you feel good when you were around him,” Tillman said. “He was not a selfish guy. He didn’t talk about his problems a lot at all. He just focused on everybody else.”
Izzo concluded his news conference with a bit of a lesson.
“When you leave here tonight, whoever it is — son, daughter, older mother, father, wife or husband — it would do you good to tell them you love them and you appreciate them,” he said. “It would do you a lot of good, and any of the people closest to you, that you say that. You say it, and you say it, and you say it. Because one morning you wake up, and everything’s one way, and by 9 o’clock that night, everything’s another way. And then you don’t get a chance to say it. So I told my team after I loved every one of them.”
Binghamton coach Tommy Dempsey offered kind words for Winston’s family and Michigan State in his postgame news conference.
“There’s not a lot of words,” Dempsey said. “I just want to say that we’re praying for them, and we’re behind them.”
The Binghamton program went through tragedy as well recently. Center Calistus Anyichie died in July in a drowning.
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