Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast: Recapping Spartans' Win Over Oakland
DETROIT, Mich. -- No. 20 Michigan State earned its third double-digit victory on Tuesday, defeating Oakland, 77-58, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
The score wasn't a very accurate representation of the meeting, as Oakland tested the Spartans for most of the game -- it wasn't until late in the second half that the Spartans really began to pull away.
Michigan State had just a 1-point lead at halftime, having only scored 31 points through the first 20 minutes. But halftime adjustments were made, and the Spartans eventually found an offensive rhythm while locking down the Golden Grizzlies on defense, holding Oakland to just 28 points in the second half.
Michigan State had three players finish in double figures in the scoring column -- sophomore forward Xavier Booker, who recorded a career-high 18 points, senior guard Jaden Akins, who posted 16 and junior forward Jaxon Kohler, who earned his third straight double-double, scoring 14 points while grabbing 10 boards.
Our Michigan State beat reporter, Aidan Champion, recaps the contest on this latest postgame edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast.
You can watch the episode below:
Below is a partial transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's opening statement of his postgame press conference:
Izzo: "For the people down here -- I mean, there's part of me that hates this game, I've said it every year -- but you got to give Kampe credit, man. The time he's put in there, the job he's done, the different lineups he's had to play, the injuries he's going through. I thought the kid, No. 7, who's been out, [Isaiah] Jones, the other Jones, I mean, this team is going to be damn good, and that league, I think, is going to be really good. Now, we didn't come with the same defensive intensity the first half, and they caused some of it. I thought Jeremy Fears, of all the people, when you talk about a guy that has one basket and really not as many assists as normal -- four assists -- I thought he won us the game just because of the job he did on [DQ] Cole. And he asked for him at halftime, and I said, 'Sure.' And that was the difference in the game. We had some other guys that played pretty well. [Xavier] Booker, of course, came in. Jaxon [Kohler] gets another double-double, which was really big on his part. ... I can't thank our crowd enough, and hopefully Oakland's crowd too, but the number of people from Michigan State that showed up, that's why I play it, so people that never see us can see us. And a lot of times, those people don't get to get into Breslin, and I greatly appreciate it, the way they were."
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