Thursday, January 18
East Lansing, Mich.
6:30 PM
Michigan State University
11-7,3-4Big Ten
76
vs
66
Minnesota
12-6,3-4Big Ten
1
2
F
Minnesota
32
34
66
Michigan St.
37
39
76
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell
Walker Scores 21, Michigan State Uses Late Run to Pull Away from Minnesota, 76-66
1/18/2024 9:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball used a 10-2 run in the closing minutes of the game and broke open a close game en route to a 76-66 win over Minnesota at the Breslin Center Thursday night.
Graduate guard Tyson Walker scored 21 points to lead three players in double figures for the Spartans, including 12 of the team's final 14 points.
Graduate forward Malik Hall had his first double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds, moving past the 1,000-point mark for his career early in the second half.
Junior guard Jaden Akins finished with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists and senior guard A.J. Hoggard had 8 points and a game-high 7 assists.
Recap
Key Stats
Notes
Michigan State hits the road for a pair of games, starting on Sunday, Jan. 21, traveling to play at Maryland (noon, CBS).
Graduate guard Tyson Walker scored 21 points to lead three players in double figures for the Spartans, including 12 of the team's final 14 points.
Graduate forward Malik Hall had his first double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds, moving past the 1,000-point mark for his career early in the second half.
Junior guard Jaden Akins finished with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists and senior guard A.J. Hoggard had 8 points and a game-high 7 assists.
Recap
- Michigan State took a 7-point lead in the early minutes and led by five points at halftime (37-32) but was never able to create any separation from Minnesota going into the final minutes of the second half.
- Leading 57-53 after a free throw from senior forward Mady Sissoko, Minnesota's Dawson Garcia hit back-to-back baskets to tie the game with 9:32 left.
- A layup from Akins at 8:11 and a free throw from Hall at 6:51 gave MSU a 62-59 lead, but Garcia hit a free throw and a jumper from Pharrel Payne tied the game with 5:39 left.
- The jumper from Payne was the last field goal of the game for the Gophers as Walker took over for the Spartans.
- The 6-1 guard hit a jumper to give MSU the lead for good with 3:38 to play and scored 10-straight points for the Spartans, including a layup with 1:12 left to give MSU a 72-64 lead.
- Sophomore forward Carson Cooper hit two free throws with 54 seconds left and Walker, who scored 12 of the team's final 14 points over the last 3:38, hit two more with 38 seconds left as the Spartans pulled away for the win.
- The Spartans led by five points, 37-32, at halftime, but Minnesota scored the first five points out of the break to tie the and took a 39-38 lead on free throws from Dawson Garcia early in the period.
- The game was back and forth from there, with seven ties and four lead changes.
- Michigan State went into the half with a 37-32 lead, with a 3-poitner from Minnesota's Braden Carrington with 26 seconds left cutting the margin to five points.
- The Spartans jumped out quickly, taking a 7-0 on a dunk from Hoggard and then extending it to 13-5 on a dunk from Cooper five minutes into the game, forcing the Gophers to call a timeout.
- Minnesota quickly got back into it, with a 3-pointer from Mike Mitchell Jr. making it 22-19 at the 10:59 mark.
- The Spartans pushed the lead back to eight points, 37-29, on a jumper from Akins with 1:29 left before going to the break up five.
Key Stats
- Michigan State committed just five turnovers and forced 19 by Minnesota, scoring 21 points off of those.
- The Spartans were beaten on the boards, 38-35, but out-rebounded the Gophers 21-20 in the second half and collected eight offensive rebounds.
- MSU out-scored Minnesota, 44-12 in the paint, including 24-6 in the first half.
- The Gophers shots 47.8 percent in the first half, but MSU limited Minnesota to 38.5 percent shooting in the second half, including 22.2 percent from three-point land (2-of-9).
- The Spartans handed out 20 assists on 29 made field goals.
Notes
- Michigan State leads the all-time series with Minnesota, 76-61, including a 46-20 record at home and a 26-3 record at the Breslin Center.
- MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo is 28-12 all-time against Minnesota.
- This was the 500th career Big Ten regular season game coached by Izzo and he joins former Indiana coach Bob Knight as the only coach in conference history to coach more than 500 (Knight coached 504).
- Izzo won the 698th game of his career.
- He has a career record of 698-297.
- His all-time Big Ten record is 336-164.
- The Spartans are now 10-2 at home.
- MSU is 11-1 this season when leading at the half.
- The Spartans are 11-1 when out-shooting their opponent (44.6% to 42.9%).
- The Spartans forced 19 turnovers while committing five and are 9-3 when their opponent has more.
- Michigan State is 11-3 when scoring at least 70 points.
- The Spartans are 6-0 when holding an opponent under 60 points and 10-0 when holding an opponent below 70 points.
- Tyson Walker scored 21 points, his 15th game in double figures this year and the 89th of his career.
- Dating back to last season, Walker has scored in double figures in 29-straight games, the second-longest streak in double figures by a player under Tom Izzo.
- This was his ninth game this season with at least 20 points.
- Walker now has 1,140 career points at MSU and moved past Travis Trice (2011-15) for 42nd place … He needs seven points to pass Pete Gent (1961-64) for 41st place.
- Walker has scored 1,820 points in 137 career games (13.3 ppg).
- Malik Hall had his first double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
- Hall moved past the 1,000-point mark for his career with a layup in the second half and became the 55th player in program history to reach that mark in his career.
- He finished the night with 1,005 points and need 11 to pass Joey Hauser (2020-23) for 54th on the all-time list.
- It was his 10th game in double figure scoring this year and the 43rd of his career.
- It was his first game with at least 10 rebounds this year, the third of his career and his second career double-double.
- Jaden Akins finished with 10 points, his 13th game in double figures and the 26th of his career.
Michigan State hits the road for a pair of games, starting on Sunday, Jan. 21, traveling to play at Maryland (noon, CBS).
Team Stats
MINN
MSU
FG%
.429
.446
3FG%
.350
.250
FT%
.654
.652
RB
38
35
TO
19
5
STL
3
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG
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