The thing about strength in numbers is there has to be some strength in the numbers. Jeremy Fears Jr. played pretty well and a lot of guys had a few moments — Coen Carr early, Jaden Akins late, Tre Holloman, Jase Richardson and Frankie Fidler in-between — but nothing that you’d describe as a stellar performance.

MSU did not deserve to win. It barely won the rebounding battle (by one) against a team that doesn’t rebound on its level and missed a boatload of good looks. And so Tom Izzo will have to wait until Tuesday night at UCLA to try to tie Knight’s mark. After that, it’s Oregon at home — not exactly a traditional Big Ten behemoth — and Indiana after that. Breaking the record against the Hoosiers would be poetic. But not what anyone at MSU wants.

2. That shooting performance is what MSU fans fear

For the last two months, Michigan State’s spotty jump shooting hasn’t cost the Spartans. Saturday, it bit them hard. Unofficially, MSU had a zillion open looks from 15 feet, and plenty from beyond the 3-point line, too. The Spartans’ shooting was worse than their numbers —24-for-57 from the floor, 5-for-15 from deep — because USC’s defense was often somewhere between absent and daring them.

I get asked regularly whether MSU has enough shooting to contend for titles this season, especially in a sport whose biggest title is decided by a single-elimination tournament. To this point, I’ve said I don’t know. I still feel that way, because the Spartans have had enough shooting so often and worked around it when they haven’t. Saturday was one of those days that gives you pause. Might’ve just been a bad day. Those happen. But USC gave the Spartans the middle of the floor to take any shot they wanted and MSU struggled to connect. A lot of the Spartans’ 3s were uncontested, too. You have to hit a large number of those if a defense is going to give them to you. Saturday was a bit concerning on that front.