Spartans Fall Short Against No. 1 Kansas, 77-69, in Champions Classic

Atlanta, Ga. – Michigan State was locked in a back-and-forth contest over the first 30-plus minutes against No. 1 Kansas, but the Jayhawks pulled away late in a 77-69 win over the Spartans in the Champions Classic Tuesday night at State Farm Arena.

Senior forward Frankie Fidler had 12 points and eight boards to lead the Spartans, while junior forward Jaxon Kohler scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second-straight double-double, while and redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with nine points, six assists and three rebounds.

Records
Michigan State falls to 2-1 overall, while Kansas improves to 3-0.

Atlanta, Ga. – Michigan State was locked in a back-and-forth contest over the first 30-plus minutes against No. 1 Kansas, but the Jayhawks pulled away late in a 77-69 win over the Spartans in the Champions Classic Tuesday night at State Farm Arena.
senior forward Frankie Fidler had 12 points and eight boards to lead the Spartans, while junior forward Jaxon Kohler scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second-straight double-double, while and redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with nine points, six assists and three rebounds.
Records
Michigan State falls to 2-1 overall, while Kansas improves to 3-0.

Recap

The Spartans went into the half trailing by six points (30-24) as both teams struggled from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play.
MSU pulled to within two points, 30-28, after free throws from Fears and Fidler in the opening minute-plus of the second half and from that point forward, it was neck-and-neck.
Trailing by five points, 37-32, the Spartans went on a 7-2 run, with junior guard Tre Holloman hitting a step-back jumper and Kohler following with a hook shot and a conventional three-point play to tie the game at 39-all with 14:04 left to play, the first of five ties in the second half.
Kansas twice took leads of five points the latter at 52-47 but free throws from Fidler and a 3-pointer from Kohler with 8:39 to play tied the game at 52-all, forcing KU to call a timeout.
The Jayhawks responded with a 6-0 burst and took a 58-52 lead on a free throw from Hunter Dickinson with 7:17 left.
A layup from Fidler (6:27) and an and-one from the senior transfer (5:55) twice cut the lead to three points, the latter at 60-57, but back-to-back baskets from Dajuan Harris gave KU a 68-59 lead with 4:25 left to play.
MSU was able to pull within 74-69 on a 3-pointer from Fidler with 29 seconds left but would get no closer.
After falling behind early in the first half, the Spartans started to find their footing and had the lead six times, the last on a floater from Fears with 5:30 left, giving MSU an 18-16 lead.
Kansas used a 14-2 run over 4:52 and took a 30-20 lead before freshman guard Jase Richardson was fouled while making a 3-pointer and the Spartans went to the break trailing, 30-24.

Key Stats

Michigan State shot just 25.8 percent from the floor (8-of-31) in the first half and only 9.1 percent from 3-point land (1-of-11).
The Spartans finished the game shooting 12.5 percent from 3-point land (3-of-24), including 15.4 percent in the second half (2-of-13).
MSU shot 42.1 percent from the floor in the second half (16-of-38) and hit 56.0 percent of their 2-point attempts (14-of-25).
Kansas out-rebounded Michigan State, 47-43.
The Spartans committed 11 turnovers, including seven in the first half.

Notes

Michigan State is now 5-9 all-time in the Champions Classic, including a 2-3 record against Kansas.
This was the fourth time the Spartans had played a team ranked No. 1 in the Champions Classic and their third loss (1-3), beating No. 1 Kentucky in 2013 (78-74).
Michigan State has an all-time record of 5-23 against teams ranked No. 1 in the country.
Kansas leads the all-time series with Michigan State, 9-7, and has won the last four meetings between the teams.
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo now has a career record of 709-296.
Senior forward Frankie Fidler scored 15 points and had eight rebounds to lead the Spartans.
- His 15 points are an MSU career-high through his first three games and this was his second-straight game scoring in double figures.
- He has scored in double figures 77 times in his career and has 1,542 points in 97 games (15.9 career average).
Junior forward Jaxon Kohler finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his second-straight double-double.
- Kohler is the first MSU player with back-to-back double-double's since Joey Hauser did so in games against Western Michigan (12/6/20) and Oakland (12/13/20).
- Kohler scored in double figures for the second-straight game and the fourth time in his career.
- It was his third career game with 10-plus rebounds.
- Kohler has led MSU in rebounding twice this season and five times in his career.
Redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. led the team in assists (6) for the third time this season.
- In 15 career games, he has handed out at least five assists six times.

Up Next
Michigan State returns home this weekend, hosting Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Breslin Center (6 p.m.)

Up Next
Michigan State returns home this weekend, hosting Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Breslin Center (6 p.m.).

Spartans Fall Short Against No. 1 Kansas, 77-69, in Champions Classic

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Team Stats

Frankie Fidler

Jaxon Kohler

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Jase Richardson

Players Mentioned

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Tre Holloman

Jaxon Kohler

Jase Richardson

Players Mentioned

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Tre Holloman

Jaxon Kohler

Jase Richardson

Spartans Fall Short Against No. 1 Kansas, 77-69, in Champions Classic

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Team Stats

Game Leaders

Frankie Fidler

Jaxon Kohler

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Jase Richardson

Players Mentioned

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Tre Holloman

Jaxon Kohler

Jase Richardson

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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Tre Holloman

Jaxon Kohler

Jase Richardson

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