Defense and rebounding.

Cassius Winston had 23 points and seven assists, helping the Spartans top the Scarlet Knights 77-65 on Sunday night in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

“It was almost good for us have to grind one out because we’re going to have to do that for a while until we get back on track,” Izzo said.

Michigan State (6-3) led by just two points midway through the second half before outscoring the Scarlet Knights 16-7 to take control of what was a closely contested game for much of the night.

“It’s tougher in conference play,” Spartans shooting guard Gabe Brown said. “A lot of those Rutgers players got better.”

Brown scored a season-high 14 points, starting in place of Rocket Watts, who is expected to be out for about a week with a leg injury.

“Missing Rocket, that’s another key player who can spread the floor and create,” Winston said. “It’s a little tougher without him, but Gabe came in and did some good things.”

Michigan State’s Xavier Tillman had 14 points and 10 rebounds while Aaron Henry added 12 points on 2 of 10 shooting from the field and 7 of 8 at the line.

The Scarlet Knights (6-3) were competitive despite their leading scorers struggling to make shots. Ron Harper Jr. scored nine points on 4 of 12 shooting and Geo Baker had just four points on 1 of 7 shooting.