The Spartan faithful inside the Breslin Center in East Lansing were fired up! It was so loud, the crowd could probably be heard all the way back in Ann Arbor, 60 miles away, where the visiting Michigan Wolverines traveled from with plans to spoil senior day for the home team Michigan State Spartans. But it was the team wearing green and white that would prevail, winning both games this season in the in-state rivalry.
Despite being favored by 9.5 points, Michigan State knew that winning really would come down to which team took care of the ball (limiting turnovers) and won the three point shooting game. Those two keys are what each team has done well, in their victories all season, or done poorly in their losses. And that certainly was the story behind the first match up in Ann Arbor.
With the first basket of the game by State followed by two triples by MSU’s Jaden Akins after a three point play by Michigan to get on the board, it was the Spartans jumping out in front early 8-3. Akins, playing in his last game as a senior at Breslin, made his presence known during the first seven minutes of the game, connecting on another shot from behind the arc later to extend Michigan State’s lead to 18-6.
The deficit for the Wolverines continued to grow as the Spartans would shoot almost 40% from three point land in the first half and take a 22 point lead into halftime, 50-28. The MSU guards, Akins, Jase Richardson, and Tre Holloman combined for 31 of the team’s 50 halftime points, shooting 7 of 14 on three pointers. Vlad Goldin, Michigan’s leading scorer on the season, led all scorers at the halfway mark with 14 points.
After being down by as many as 25 points in the second half, Michigan’s two big men, Goldin and Danny Wolf tried their best to pull the team back into the game. Each scored 15 points in the second half and Michigan State’s lead fizzled to 11 points midway through the period. Overall, Michigan outscored State 34-29 in the second half, however it wasn’t enough. The hole they dug themselves into in the first half was too deep. And while MSU’s guards were hot, Michigan’s guards were off for the day. Between Nimari Burnett, Tre Donaldson, Rubin Jones, and the reserves, none of them managed to score over five points in the game. Their struggles of hitting the three point basket (7% on 1 for 14 in the final 20 minutes) would give rise to defeat for the maize and blue as they would lose 79-62, dropping their third in a row to finish the regular season.
Michigan’s Goldin led all scores in the game with 29 points. Wolf added 18 total points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. For MSU, Holloman and Richardson finished with 20 and 18 points respectively. Thinking about the keys to win the game, both teams had 15 turnovers each but MSU shot much better for three point field goals, making 9 of 24 (37%) compared to Michigan’s 3 of 24 (13%).
Being that it was a rivalry game and senior day, it was easy to notice the elevated emotions (and tension) throughout the day, which included an incident between the two teams at the end of the game. As the Spartan seniors were being taken out one at a time and going to mid-court to take part in the tradition of kissing the Spartan logo, two first year Wolverines stood near center court watching, likely not realizing they were in the way. A Spartan player took exception to this and shoved one of the two Michigan players as words were exchanged. Fortunately the altercation was quickly broken up by Michigan Head Coach Dusty May and others.
Regardless, it was a glorious day overall for the Spartans, as they officially honored their seniors Akins, Szymon Zapala, and Frankie Fidler, alongside celebrating winning the Big Ten regular season title in a ceremony after the game.
Both teams will next head to Indianapolis later in the week to compete in the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan State earns the #1 overall seed in the Big Ten Tournament while Michigan will carry the #3 seed. The top four seeds earned a double bye to the quarterfinals in the tournament and thus will play their first games on Friday.
Final Score: Michigan State 79 – Michigan 62
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