Michigan State dominated North Dakota State on Thursday evening, beating the 14th-seeded Bison 92-67. This was one of the least stressful first-round games for Michigan State in years, blowing the doors off the Bison after somewhat of a slow start.
The Spartans didn’t have much trouble with North Dakota State, putting the Bison away in the first half, and a lot of the success that Michigan State had was due to elite passing.
In fact, that elite passing led to a broken program record for the Spartans.
Michigan State finished with a whopping 26 assists on 33 made field goals which is impressive in itself, but that number is actually a program record for assists in an NCAA Tournament game, per Ben Shockley who caught up with Tom Izzo after the win.