Saturday, January 17
Seattle, Wa.
6 PM
Michigan State University
16-2,6-1Big Ten
80
at
63
Washington
10-8,2-5Big Ten
1
2
F
Michigan St.
39
41
80
Washington
31
32
63
Fears Scores Game-High 19 Points, No. 12 Michigan State Opens Road Trip with 80-63 Win Over Washington
1/17/2026 8:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SEATTLE – Redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 19 points and No. 12 Michigan State used a pair of runs in the second half to break open a close game en route to a 80-63 win over Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Fears scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half while handing out five assists as three Spartans scored in double figures and 11 different players scored.
Sophomore guard Kur Teng hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 11 points and senior center Carson Cooper finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Records
Michigan State improves to 16-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten Conference, while Washington falls to 10-8 overall and 2-5 in league play.
Recap
Notes
Michigan State closes out its two-game road trip on Tuesday, Jan. 20, visiting Oregon. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. on FS1, with Connor Onion and Miles Simon on the call.
Fears scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half while handing out five assists as three Spartans scored in double figures and 11 different players scored.
Sophomore guard Kur Teng hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 11 points and senior center Carson Cooper finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Records
Michigan State improves to 16-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten Conference, while Washington falls to 10-8 overall and 2-5 in league play.
Recap
- Michigan State led by as many as 11 points early in the second half before Washington got within five points, 48-43, on a free throw from JJ Mandaquit.
- Fears took over from there, scoring eight straight points over 1:44 – four free throws, a driving layup and a jumper – as MSU took a 56-45 lead with 10:14 left.
- He fed Cooper for an alley-oop at 8:41 and hit two more free throws with 8:32 left, capping a 12-2 run and giving MSU a 60-45 lead.
- Washington pulled within 11 points, 68-57, but the Spartans responded with a 7-0 run over 1:10, taking a 75-57 lead after Fears fed junior forward Coen Carr for an alleyoop and freshman forward Jordan Scott hit a jumper with 3:13 left.
- Michigan State led by eight points (39-31) at the break and extended the margin to 11 points twice in the opening minutes, first on a driving layup from sophomore guard Divine Ugochukwu (44-33) and then on a jumper from Fears (46-35) before the Huskies cut the lead to five points, 48-43.
- Michigan State went into the break with an eight-point lead, 39-31, using a 10-0 run midway through the half to break open a back-and-forth contest.
- The teams traded baskets in the opening 10 minutes, one tie and 11 lead changes.
- Trailing 13-11 after a 3-pointer from Quimari Peterson, a jumper from Fears at 13:52 triggered the 10-0 run as sophomore guard Kur Teng hit back-to-back 3-pointers and a tip-in from Kohler at 11:52 gave the Spartans a 21-13 lead.
- MSU pushed its lead to double digits, taking a 28-18 lead on free throws from Teng with 7:55 to play and a 3-pointer from Jess McCulloch made it 33-23 with 6:05 left.
- The Spartans took their biggest lead of the half, 37-25, after Kohler hit a driving layup (3:29) and one of two free throws (3:01) before going into the break with an eight-point lead.
- Michigan State shot 47.7 percent from the floor (31-of-65), including 51.6 percent (16-of-31) in the second half.
- The Spartans had a 39-28 advantage in rebounding, grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and scored 15 second-chance points.
- MSU scored 20 its points in the paint in the second half.
- The Spartans received 31 points from the bench.
- MSU committed just five turnovers, including one in the second half.
Notes
- Michigan State trails the all-time series with Washington, 6-2, and has won the last six games in the series.
- This was MSU's first win against Washington on the road.
- MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo is now 4-0 all-time against the Huskies.
- Izzo's career record is now 753-304 in his 31st year at the helm of the MSU program.
- The Spartans have an all-time record of 173-43 under Izzo in December.
- MSU is 2-1 on the road this year.
- The Spartans are 13-1 when leading at the half.
- Michigan State scored 80 points, the ninth time this season with at least 80 points.
- The Spartans 9-0 when scoring at least 80 and 15-0 when scoring at least 70 points.
- MSU held Washington to 63 points, the 15th time holding an opponent to less than 70 points.
- The Spartans are 13-2 when holding opponents below 70 points.
- Michigan State shot 47.7 percent from the floor (31-of-65), the 14th time shooting at least 45.0 percent from the floor.
- Washington shot 47.2 percent from the floor, just the fifth team to shoot above 40 percent against MSU.
- The Spartans out-shot UW (47.7 to 47.2) and MSU is 16-2 when out-shooting their opponent.
- MSU is 16-2 when holding opponents to below 50 percent from the floor.
- MSU controlled the battle of the boards (39-28) for the 17th time this season.
- The Spartans are 16-1 when outrebounding their opponent.
- The Spartans collected 13 offensive rebounds, the 17th game with at least 10 on the offensive glass.
- The Spartans tied a season-low with five turnovers.
- Jeremy Fears Jr. scored a game-high 19 points and handed out a game-high five assists.
- He has scored in double figures 12 times this year and 24 for his career.
- He has led the team in assists 17 times this year and 39 for his career.
- This was his fifth time leading the team in scoring, the sixth of his career.
- Carson Cooper scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
- This was his 10th game in double figures this year and the 14th of his career.
- Cooper tied a career-best with three assists.
- Jaxon Kohler and Cam Ward each grabbed seven rebounds to lead the team.
- Kohler has led the team in rebounding 11 times this year and 32 for his career.
- Ward has led the team in rebounding three times.
- Kur Teng scored 11 points, his eight game in double figures this season and the sixth time in the last eight games.
Michigan State closes out its two-game road trip on Tuesday, Jan. 20, visiting Oregon. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. on FS1, with Connor Onion and Miles Simon on the call.
Team Stats
MSU
UW
FG%
.477
.472
3FG%
.316
.158
FT%
.667
.769
RB
39
28
TO
5
12
STL
6
4
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
C
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