WATCH: Michigan State's Jaden Akins Talks Win Against Niagara, Looks Ahead to Kansas
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State senior guard Jaden Akins entered Thursday's game against Niagara coming off one of the best games of his career, having tied a career-high 23 points in the Spartan's season-opening win against Monmouth.
On Thursday, Akins finished in double figures in the scoring column yet again, posting 10 points. He also picked up where he left off in the rebounding department after grabbing nine boards against Monmouth, recording six rebounds in Thursday's victory.
Akins and the Spartans now look ahead to No. 1 Kansas, an opponent who will present the Spartans one of their toughest challenges of the entire season.
The veteran discussed the win over Niagara and the task that lies ahead with Kansas when he addressed the media after Thursday's contest.
You can watch below:
Below is a partial transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's opening statement from his postgame presser:
Izzo: "I thought we were really average the first couple of minutes. Give them credit, they made those three 3s right in a row. And then, it was a strange first half. We missed five dead-nut layups. Jeremy [Fears Jr.], Frankie [Fidler] missed two ... Carson [Cooper] missed one and Jase [Richardson] missed one. And I mean, layup layups. And you look at that, you say, 'Big deal,' but that's 10 points, and, really, probably would have given us a bigger lead at halftime. I was impressed with them early. I thought they were better than the team we played the other day as far as matchups for us. We had to play Book [Xavier Booker] and a little bit [of] Jaxon [Kohler] on their 4-man, who was a 6-5, 6-4 guard that could take it to the rack. So, that was good practice for what's coming up next, and I thought that was good. We didn't turn the ball over much. We had two late in the game. Got to the free-throw line. I think another big stat was 16 offensive rebounds, but getting 21 points off those rebounds. Fast break is getting better and better. Shooting was -- still missed some good shots, but it's starting to creep forward. And 20 assists out of 35 baskets isn't as many, but we had a lot of driving things and layups that you don't get an assist on. We rebounded pretty well, the second half, I thought we played pretty well."
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