No. 4 Michigan State Loses Thriller to No. 9 Tennessee, 89-88, in Charity Exhibition Game

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State stormed back from an 18-point deficit in the first half and tied the game with five seconds left, but Tennessee hit a free throw with 1.9 seconds left as the Spartans lost to the Volunteers, 89-88, in a charity exhibition game at the Breslin Center on Sunday afternoon.

Graduate guard Tyson Walker scored 22 points had had four assists and five steals to lead the Spartans, while graduate forward Malik Hall had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Senior guard A.J. Hoggard finished with 14 points and junior guard Jaden Akins had 12 points and a team-high six assists.

Recap

After falling behind 17-1 in the first five minutes of the game, and by 18 points midway through the first half, the Spartans fought back and pulled to within three points, 40-37, at intermission.
In the second half, the Volunteers pushed their lead back to 11 points, 57-46, on a dunk and a free throw from Dalton Knecht at the 15:02 mark.
Trailing by eight points, 75-67, Walker scored seven-straight points and pulled to within one point, 77-76, with 4:03 left in the game.
Tennessee pushed its lead back to 83-76 after free throws from Jahmai Maschack with 2:25 left, but a 3-pointer from Akins, free throws from Hoggard and a layup from Walker cut the margin once again to one point, this time at 84-83 with 24 seconds left.
The Spartans trailed by five points, 88-83, after free throws from Maschack with 13 seconds left, but Hoggard hit a pair to cut it to 88-85 with 11 seconds on the clock.
Walker forced a steal with eight seconds left and sophomore guard Tre Holloman fed Hoggard, who drained a 3-pointer from the right of the key with five seconds left, tying the game at 88-all.
Holloman was called for a foul with 1.9 seconds left and Jordan Gainey hit one free throw to give Tennessee the 89-88 win.
The Spartans had fallen behind quickly in the first half, as the Vols hit seven of their first nine shots from the field and took a 17-1 lead on a jumper from Knecht.
A hook shot from Hall with 15:16 on the clock gave the Spartans their first field goal (17-3), but the Volunteers pushed their lead to 18 points, 30-12, on a 3-pointer from Gainey at the 10:11 mark.
Still trailing by 16 points, 33-17, with 7:33 before the half, MSU went on a 20-6 run and pulled to within 39-37 on a jumper from Hall.

Key Stats

The Spartans shot 43.5 percent from the floor (27-of-62), including 45.5 percent in the second half (15-of-33).
Tennessee shot 51.0 percent from the floor (26-of-51), including 52.4 percent from 3-point land (11-of-21).
The Spartans had a 38-31 advantage in rebounding, collected 16 offensive rebounds and scored 21 second-chance points.
The Spartans hit 72.2 percent of their free throws (26-of-36), but just 62.5 percent in the first half (10-of-16).
MSU committed 11 turnovers in the first half and finished with 17 total.

Notes

All proceeds raised from this game will be donated to the Hawai'i Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund, providing financial resources to the relief efforts from the devastating Maui wildfires in August.

Up Next
Michigan State opens the regular season on Monday, Nov. 6, hosting James Madison at the Breslin Center. The game tips off at 8:30 p.m. on BTN.

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Team Stats

Tyson Walker

A.J. Hoggard

Malik Hall

Jaden Akins

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Tre Holloman

Tyson Walker