Michigan State University
13-8,5-5Big Ten
Michigan
7-14,2-8Big Ten
Spartans Beat Michigan 81-62 for Izzo’s 700th Career Win
1/30/2024 11:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Akins nets career-high as Michigan State beats Michigan in first rivalry meeting of season.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A season-high 23 points from junior guard Jaden Akins boosted Michigan State men's basketball to an 81-62 victory over Michigan Tuesday night at the Breslin Center for Spartan head coach Tom Izzo's 700th career win.
MSU posted its fourth win in the last five games in moving to 13-8 overall and leveling its Big Ten ledger at 5-5. Michigan lost its fourth in a row in sliding to 7-14 overall and 2-8 in B1G play.
Izzo becomes the first Big Ten head coach to reach the 700-win milestone at one school. Coach Izzo is also the 38th Division I men's basketball head coach to reach 700 wins. The legendary Spartan head coach is now 700-288 in his 29th season at the helm of MSU.
Michigan State has won the last six games played in the Breslin Center against the Wolverines, having won eight of the last 12 meetings overall. Tuesday night was the 193rd all-time meeting between MSU and UM, with the Spartans cutting the Wolverines' series lead to 104-89.
Akins netted a career-high seven 3-pointers on the way to his career scoring night. He led four Spartans in double-figures, followed by senior guard A.J. Hoggard with 15 points, while graduate guard Tyson Walker and graduate forward Malik Hall tallied 12 points each.
Hoggard netted his 15th point of the night with 40 seconds left for his 1,000th career point. The Spartan guard not only becomes the 56th all-time MSU player to score 1,000 career points, he's the third this season, joining Hall who reached the 1,000-career point plateau vs. Minnesota on Jan. 18, 2024, and Walker who reached 1,000 points in his MSU career vs. Oakland on Dec. 18, 2023.
Michigan was led by 18 points from Jaelin Llewellyn who tallied four baskets from beyond the arc.
POST-GAME NOTES
Series
• Michigan State and Michigan met on the hardwood for the 193rd time in series history ... MSU improves to 55-38 all-time at home against UM, winning the last six in the Breslin Center ... Spartan head coach Tom Izzo improves to 33-21 in his career against the Wolverines.
Coach Izzo
• MSU head coach Tom Izzo won his 700th career Victory for MSU and of his career ... Izzo becomes the first Big Ten head coach to win 700 games at the same school ... he is the 38th Division I men's basketball head coach to reach 700 wins and the second this season, after Gonzaga head coach Mark Few reached the mark earlier this season.
Game
• Sophomore guard Tre Holloman tied the game at 8-8 on a 3-point jumper early in the first half for the game's first tie.
• A 7-0 UM run saw the visiting Wolverines mount a 15-8 lead prior to the second media timeout ... Michigan increased its lead to as much as nine at 18-9 at 11:25 of the first half, which was UM's largest of the night.
• Freshman forward Xavier Booker banked in a 3-pointer at 8:13 to cut the deficit to three at 22-19.
• With 1:42 before intermission, UM's Jaelin Llewellyn hit his third of three first-half triples to extend UM's lead back to seven at 35-28.
• MSU closed out the first half on a 5-0 spurt, getting buckets by graduate forward Malik Hall and senior guard A.J. Hoggard, with Hoggard converting three the old fashioned way with 51 seconds left in the opening stanza.
• After Michigan took a five-point lead at 38-33 on a 3-pointer by Nimari Burnett at 19:06 of the season, the Spartans went on a 16-1 spurt, including 12 unanswered points, capped by an Akins 3-pointer at the 15:18 mark for a 49-39 MSU advantage, the home team's first double-digit lead of the night.
• The Spartan lead swelled to 15 points for the first time at 61-46 after a Walker three-point play.
• Michigan State made its largest of the night at 20 points with 3:05 to go on a put-back by Jaxon Kohler.
Team Notes
• The Spartans trailed 35-33 at halftime, marking the first time this season that MSU has rallied from an intermission deficit, now 1-7 when trailing at the break, compared to 12-1 when leading at the half.
• MSU scored 48 second-half points Tuesday night, the Spartans' most in a second half in a Big Ten game this season and the most since 51 points vs. Stony Brook (12/21/23).
• Michigan State made 55.7 percent (34-of-61) from the field, moving to 6-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field.
• MSU was 4-of-8 (50.0 percent) at the free throw line, marking the fewest free throws made this season, after the previous season-low of five done twice previously, vs. Wisconsin (12/5/23) and at Illinois (1/11/24) ... the eight free throw attempts was the second-lowest behind seven in both Wisconsin and Illinois games ... the 50 percent shooting was the lowest of the season, taking over the previous low mark of 52.4 percent (11-of-21) vs. Alcorn State (11/19/23).
• The Spartans finished 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) behind the 3-point line, their most triples in the last four games since making 12 vs. Rutgers (1/14/24).
• MSU was out-rebounded by UM 34-26, as the Spartans have been out-rebounded in their last three wins, moving to 4-5 when the opposition has more rebounds.
• The MSU defense forced 13 UM turnovers, as Michigan entered Tuesday's game having 10 or fewer turnovers in five of its last seven games, and single-digit miscues in its last four games ... Michigan State is now 11-3 when the opponent has more miscues compared to 0-3 when the Spartans have more turnovers and 2-2 when turnovers are even.
• MSU's last four six wins have come by forcing the opposition into double-digit turnovers ... overall, Michigan is the 15th Spartan opponent that MSU's defense has forced into double-digit turnovers ... Michigan State moves to 11-4 when forcing 10+ turnovers, winning the last seven games when doing so.
• Tuesday's win improved the Spartans' home ledger to 11-2, winning the last seven in a row at home.
• Michigan State improved to 7-0 when scoring 80 or more points.
• The Spartans are 12-0 when holding the opposition under 70 points.
• MSU is 10-0 in games decided by 16+ points.
• Michigan State finishes the January slate of its schedule with a 5-3 mark in the month, its most wins in a month this season after four wins in each of the previous three months ... the Spartans have had a winning record in all four months of the season so far.
Player Notes
• Four Spartans scored in double-figures, as the Green & White improve to 6-4 when four score 10 or more.
• Junior guard Jaden Akins netted 3-of-4 behind the arc to lead the Spartans with 11 points in the first half, the lone MSU player in double-figures in the first half.
•Akins finished with a career-high seven 3-pointers on the way to a career-best 23 points ... he topped his previous career-high of 22 points vs. Stony Brook (12/21/23), while bettering his previous top career triples of five at Nebraska (2/28/23).
• Akins posted his 15th game in double-figures this season and 28th of his career.
• A.J. Hoggard entered Tuesday's game with 985 career points and scored his 15th point of the night with 40 seconds left for the Spartans' 81st point of the game and the final score of the game for his 1,000th career point ... Hoggard becomes the third Spartan to reach 1,000 points this season, joining Tyson Walker who scored his 1,000th point at MSU on Dec. 18, 2023 vs. Oakland and Malik Hall who scored his 1,000th point on Jan. 18, 2024 vs. Minnesota.
• Graduate guard Tyson Walker netted 12 points Tuesday night to stretch his consecutive games in double-figure scoring to 32-straight games dating back to the 2022-23 season ... Walker now has double-digit points in 94 career games.
• Senior forward Malik Hall notched 12 points for his sixth-straight game in double-figures and his 12th of the season and 45th career.
• Hoggard dished out a game-high seven assists, putting him over 100 for the season for the third-straight season, now with 106 helpers on the year ... the seven assists was Hoggard's ninth game with five or more helpers.
• Sophomore forward Jaxon Kohler swatted a season-high two blocks.
UP NEXT
Michigan State remains at home to host Maryland on Saturday, Feb. 3 in a 5:40 p.m. tip-off from the Breslin Center. The Spartans vs. Terrapins match-up will be nationally televised on Fox.
