Spartans improve to 8-0 in the Big Ten with Minnesota up next
Just prior to tip off, it was announced that star freshman Dylan Harper wouldn’t be starting for Rutgers after turning an ankle against Penn State on Monday. Jeremiah Williams got the start in place of Harper, who would enter the game at the 14 minute mark of the first half.
Missing Harper didn’t hurt Rutgers initially though, as they jumped out to a 10-3 lead in what would be a first half of runs by each team.
MSU went inside to Kohler on its first possession and he drew a foul before a Tre Holloman three started the scoring. Rutgers, however, would score the next ten and Kohler would pick up two fouls in the process.
A nice Coen Carr take to the rim resulted in a three point play that ended the first Rutgers run. Later, Xavier Booker drew the second foul on Nathan Sommerville just before the under 16 break.
Carr’s and one would start a 16-1 run for MSU. Nice ball movement led to a Xavier Booker floater in the lane before Frankie Fidler would have a really solid stretch for MSU. His layup tied it at 11 and then Fidler found a wide open Carr for a dunk to give the Spartans the lead back at 13-11. Then a Fidler drive and kick to Jase Richardson for a three extended the lead to 17-11 at the under 12 break.
Syzmon Zapala gathered an offensive rebound and his put back extended the MSU lead to eight. Bailey ended the MSU run with a couple of free throws before Fidler got an offensive board and put back of his own. Two Akins free throws after a drive that drew a foul put MSU up 10 at 23-13 in the midst of 11 straight Rutgers misses.
Rutgers would respond with another run though. A Bailey turnaround and Jordan Derkack three cut it to 23-18 and, from there, Derkack would be Rutgers’ main source of offense for the rest of the game.
A Richardson fast break layup and one put the Spartans up eight but Rutgers responded with a 7-0 run on two Harper free throws, another three pointer from Derkack, and a Harper pull up jumper.
After Rutgers tied it at 28, Fears found Carr for an alley oop dunk. Richardson and Derkack traded free throws before a Richardson three and a nice spin move from Harper made it 35-32 MSU at halftime. The Spartans bench led the way in the first half, scoring 26 of MSU’s 35 points.
Xavier Booker had a wide open three from the top of the key that could have extended the halftime lead for MSU but it didn’t fall. Rutgers seemed content to let the Spartans have the three point shots in hopes of keeping MSU out of the lane in the first half.
On one hand, it worked, as MSU hit only three of 12 from long range and two of those were from Richardson. Despite Rutgers’ best efforts, MSU still led the points in the paint battle 18-8 while Rutgers surprisingly led in fast break points 13-10.
Turnovers weren’t a huge factor in the first half with MSU committing five and Rutgers only four while both teams shot poorly. MSU hit only 38.7%, but had nine assists on their 12 made field goals, while Rutgers was even worse at 31%.
Dylan Harper started the second half for Rutgers but MSU would strike first. Zapala would get another offensive rebound and then screen for Holloman. His layup put MSU up five and it would go back and forth from there until the under 16 break. A nice drive and Euro step from Fears put MSU 43-39 with 15 minutes to go. Harper would check out with 18:30 to go and not return.
It would continue to be pretty even from there for the next few minutes. MSU was able to extend the lead to 47-39 on a Richardson drive from the corner and a nice left handed hook shot from Carson Cooper off a feed from Booker. Derkack would continue to bother the Spartans, drawing two fouls and hitting three of four from the line. In between Derkack getting fouled, Sommerville and Booker traded baskets and MSU held a 49-44 lead with 11:58 to go.
Michigan State would then get the first mini run of the second half. Fidler found Akins in the corner and Jaden hit his only three of the game for a 52-44 Spartan lead. On the other end, Coen Carr denied a Rutgers layup which led to a Holloman layup, a ten point lead, and a Rutgers timeout with 10:51 left.
Tom Izzo was fired up coming out of the timeout and wanted the Spartans locked in on defense. MSU responded and got a stop when a Bailey pull up didn’t fall. On the other end, Akins missed another three but a Carr putback gave MSU its biggest lead at 56-44.
Bailey would come back with two free throws, which got him to 8-8 on the line while shooting only 2-12 from the field at that point. A short while later, Rutgers would somehow lose track of Coen Carr on the break. Holloman found him for another dunk and a 58-46 lead.
Richardson would hit his third three moments later to extend the lead to 61-48. Rutgers would answer with a Williams offensive rebound put back. Booker would miss another three but get the ball back and get fouled on a drive. He hit both to keep the lead at 13 with just over seven minutes to go.
Derkack would strike again with a drive to cut it back to 11 at 63-52. Michigan State would respond with their three guard weave up top leading to Rutgers losing track of Cooper down low. Cooper would get the ball, draw a foul, and hit one of two to give MSU a 64-52 lead.
Michigan State would maintain a double digit lead until 1:42 when, wait for it . . . Jordan Derkack hit a three to make it 71-63. From there, the Rutgers press created some MSU turnovers and Rutgers would get within seven on a three by Dylan Grant with 1:02 left and within six on yet another Derkack three with 28 seconds to go.
The Spartans would hit their free throws down the stretch though and have just enough success breaking the Rutgers press to get out of New York with an 81-74 win.
Richardson led the Spartans with 20 on 6-9 shooting, including 3-4 beyond the arc. Carr scored 14 on 5-5 from the floor and 4-5 from the line and contributed some great defense on Bailey. MSU’s bench would score 50 in this one and the Spartans limited Bailey to 18, just below his average of 19.9, but Rutgers’ leader hit just 4 of 17 from the field.
It was all enough to offset the incredibly annoying performance from Jordan Derkack, who finished with 26 – nearly 20 above his season average of 6.7.
Michigan State was bothered by the Rutgers defense in the second half, where they committed 10 turnovers, but they dominated the interior battle, out rebounding Rutgers 44-34 and out scoring them in the paint 42-26.
The Spartans return to Breslin on Tuesday for an 8 PM tip with Minnesota.
In other basketball action today, the MSU Women annihilated Michigan 88-58 in Ann Arbor behind a huge second half where they out scored the Wolverines 59-25.
And in what is shaping up to be a great weekend for MSU sports fans, #4 Women’s gymnastics scored a win at #14 Ohio State last night while hockey downed Minnesota 9-3! The Spartans and Gophers face off again tonight and Steve will have a series write up on that tomorrow.