Spartans Fall to Top-Seeded Auburn in Elite Eight, 70-64

ATLANTA – Behind a theme of Strength in Numbers, Michigan State's men's basketball team relied on its depth all season, with 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes and nine different players leading the team in scoring during the season to win the Big Ten Regular Season title and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The road to the Final Four came up one game short on Sunday, as the Spartans' run in the NCAA Tournament came to a close as MSU fell to top-seeded Auburn, 70-64, in the South Regional Final at State Farm Arena.

Three Spartans scored in double figures, led by junior forward Jaxon Kohler, who had 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Kohler also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. Senior guard Jaden Akins had 15 points with three 3-pointers in his final game as a Spartan. Freshman guard Jase Richardson finished with 11 points and was named to the South Regional All-Tournament team.

Records
MSU finishes the season with a 30-7 overall record, marking the sixth 30th-win season of Hall of Fame Coach Tom Izzo's career. It also was Izzo's 11th appearance in the Elite Eight. Auburn advances to the Final Four with a record of 32-5.

Recap

MSU trailed by as many as 15 points (23-8) in the first half and were down by nine (33-24) at the break before pulling to within five points, 35-30, on a layup from redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. with 17:58 to play.
Auburn pushed the lead back to 10 points, 40-30, on a 3-pointer from Chad Baker-Mazara and a layup from Dylan Cardwell with 16:35 remaining.
Frankie Fidler made two free throws at the 7:30 mark to cut Auburn's lead to eight points at 52-44.
Coen Carr's two free throws made it 57-48 with 5:29 left, but Auburn responded with a quick 5-0 run over the next minute to go back up by 14 points, 62-48, with 4:10 remaining.
MSU got it back within single digits at 64-55 on Akins' 3-pointer with 2:16 left, and Kohler's third 3 of the game trimmed the margin to seven points at 65-58 at the 1:40 mark. Auburn scored the next four points to take a 69-58 lead with 1:10 left.
Akins hit two more 3-pointers in the final minute, but the Spartans ran out of time and the Tigers held off MSU to make the final, 70-64.
The Spartans went into the break trailing by nine points, 33-24, after shooting just 26.7 percent from the floor.
Auburn took an early lead after baskets from Broome, but a conventional three-point play from Richardson tied the game at 6-all and a dunk from Carr gave MSU an 8-6 lead at 15:50.
The Tigers tied the game on the next possession and proceeded to go on a 17-0 run over the next 5:02 and took a 23-8 lead on a 3-pointer from Broome at 10:29.
The Spartans responded with a 7-0 burst and pulled to within 23-15 on a driving layup from Richardson with 8:41 to play before the break.
That was part of an 11-4 run over 5:42 as MSU got to within 27-19 on free throws from Richardson with 4:22 left.

Key Stats

Michigan State shot just 34.4 percent from the field in the game (22-of-63) and was 7-of-23 shooting 3-pointers (.304).
Auburn was 26-of-61 shooting (.426) overall.

Notes

This marked Hall of Fame Coach Tom Izzo's 11th appearance in the Elite Eight (8-3 record).
Michigan State completed a successful season that saw the Spartans win 30 games, reach the Elite Eight, and win the Big Ten regular-season championship by three games with a 17-3 conference record.
This marks the sixth 30th-win season of Izzo's career (33 in 1998-99; 32 in 1999-2000; 31 in 2008-09; 30 in 2017-18; 32 in 2018-19).
Izzo now has an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 59-26 with a .694 winning percentage.
Izzo's career record is now 737-302.
The Spartans now have an all-time record of 76-37 in NCAA Tournament games.
Michigan State is 2-6 when scoring 70 points or fewer.
The Spartans are 8-7 when trailing at the half.
MSU shot 34.4 percent from the floor, its second-lowest percentage of the season.
The Spartans are 3-5 when being out-shot by their opponent (34.4 percent for MSU, 42.6 percent for Auburn).
Michigan State out-rebounded Auburn, 41-39, the 33rd time this year controlling the boards but only the sixth time losing a game (27-6).
The Spartans received 17 points from their bench, just the second time this year below 20 points.
Jaxon Kohler led Michigan State with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while adding two assists.
- It was his eighth double-double of the season and the ninth of his career.
- He scored in double figures 10 times this season and 12 for his career.
- He had 11 game this year with at least 10 rebounds and 12 for his career.
Jase Richardson scored 11 points, grabbed three rebounds and had three steals.
- Richardson scored in double figures 23 times this season.
Jaden Akins scored 15 points, grabbed three rebounds and had one assist.
- He scored in double figures 29 times this year and 64 for his career.
- In 139 career games, he scored 1,252 points, passing Malik Hall (2019-24) for 32nd place on the all-time scoring list.
- Akins ranks tied for 10th all-time with Cassius Winston (2016-20) and Derrick Nix (2009-13) for all-time games played (139).

Team Stats

Jaxon Kohler

Jaden Akins

Jase Richardson

Frankie Fidler

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Coen Carr

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Frankie Fidler

Malik Hall

Jaxon Kohler

Jase Richardson