Spartans' Offense Thrives as MSU Captures 90-72 Road Win Over Minnesota
Michigan State opened Big Ten play with one of its best outings of the season yet.
The Spartans took care of business in their road matchup against Minnesota on Wednesday, defeating the Golden Gophers, 90-72, to secure their seventh win of the season.
It was an impressive outing for Michigan State's offense, which made a season-high 11 3-pointers. Of those made baskets from beyond the arc, three came from sophomore forward Xavier Booker, who was one of four Spartans to finish the game with double figures in the scoring column. The other three were sophomore forward Coen Carr, who led all Spartans with 12 points, junior forward Jaxon Kohler (11), who earned his third double-double of the season by adding 11 boards, junior guard Tre Holloman (11), who made his second straight start after a career performance in Michigan State's upset win over North Carolina in the Maui Invitational and redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (10).
The Spartans started strong, getting out to a 9-2 lead that was highlighted by 4 straight points from Michigan State senior guard Jaden Akins.
But the Spartans would begin to severely struggle, allowing a 10-0 run that saw the Gophers take a 12-9 lead. The run was due in large part to four turnovers by Michigan State.
The surge was finally ended with a triple from Spartan sophomore forward Xavier Booker.
Shortly after, Michigan State went on a 17-0 run, 7 of the points having come from sophomore forward Coen Carr. The Spartans would lead by 15, their largest lead of the game until that point, with 7:17 to go in the first half.
Minnesota kept fighting, though, and toward the end of the half, the Gophers' top scorer, senior forward Dawson Garcia, who had been quiet for much of the first half with merely one field goal, started getting to the charity stripe as he ended the half with Minnesota's last 6 points, all of which came at the free throw line.
Michigan State would lead 42-30 at halftime.
Garcia's scoring would carry over into the second half as the veteran forward scored the Gophers' first 4 points of the half, with 2 coming at the charity stripe, making for eight straight free throws from the big man.
But Michigan State kept its foot on the pedal, extending its lead to 16 with a triple from Fears and a dunk from Booker.
The Gophers would pull to within 13 before Booker made his second 3-pointer of the game, putting the Spartans back up 16.
Minnesota kept fighting, trimming the lead down to 11, but a converted and-1 from senior forward Frankie Fidler would give Michigan State a 14-point lead. A triple from Gophers senior guard Mike Mitchell Jr., who suited up on Wednesday for the first time in almost a month due to an ankle injury, quickly made it just an 11-point lead again, but the Spartans combatted with a third made 3-pointer from Booker.
Less than a minute later, Fidler added a triple, to give the Spartans a 15-point advantage with nearly 9 minutes remaining.
A bit over a minute later, Holloman would drain one from deep, his second made 3-pointer of the contest, giving Michigan State its largest lead of the game until that point, 18 points.
Minnesota would pull to within 15 with less than 4 minutes to play, but that late push was halted with a made 3 from Kohler. That triple, along with another bucket from Kohler, put Michigan State back up with less than 2-and-a-half minutes to go.
The Spartans' last triple of the evening came from redshirt sophomore Gehrig Normand with just over a minute left. He then added another bucket, finishing the game with the first 5 points of his collegiate career.
Michigan State starts off 1-0 in conference play and will seek a third straight win when it hosts Nebraska for its Big Ten home opener on Saturday at noon.
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