No. 9-seeded Michigan State never trailed in its 69-51 win over No. 8-seeded Mississippi State in Charlotte on Thursday afternoon in the Round of 64 in the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
MSU captured its 20th win of the 2023-2024 season and head coach Tom Izzo got his 17th win in the NCAA Tournament as a worse seed.
Michigan State advanced in part due to solid shooting throughout. The Spartans shot 50% overall and 43% from deep. MSU ended the game with the rebounding advantage over the Bulldogs, 35-29.
Three Spartans finished in double figures: Tyson Walker (19 points), Jaden Akins (15 points) and Malik Hall (10 points). Akins also grabbed seven rebounds.
A.J. Hoggard finished just short of double-digits with eight points, but he also dished out eight assists. Mady Sissoko led the Spartans in rebounds with nine.
First half
Michigan State got off to a good start shooting the 3-pointer. Akins opened the scoring from beyond the arc.
Hoggard hit his first shot from deep as well. Walker added a pair of 3-pointers of his own to give Michigan State an 18-8 lead at the 12:14-mark of the first half.
In that same time frame, the Spartans forced five turnovers on the defensive end.
Mississippi State’s defense started to step up. Michigan State had a stretch of four turnovers in just over three minutes of game time. The Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to cut Michigan State’s lead down to 20-15 at the under-8 media timeout.
The Spartans got hot shooting again as they had a stretch of three-straight made shots. Akins hit a corner jumper and a 3-pointer, and Hoggard made an easy layup.
Walker added a layup off of a Mississippi State turnover to give the Spartans a 29-18 lead. Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Bulldogs back within single-digits. Hubbard ended the first 20 minutes with 13 points.
With Hall’s buzzer-beater to end the first half, Michigan State went into the locker room with a 31-24 halftime lead.
Rebounding was dominated in the first half by Michigan State. The Spartans out-rebounded Mississippi State by a tally of 16-10 at halftime.
Michigan State was the better shooting team in the first half (and full game), as the Spartans shot 54% from the field in the first 20 minutes, while Mississippi State shot 40%. Turnovers were the biggest blemish in the first half box score. Michigan State had nine turnovers in the first stanza.
Fast-break points were a big key coming into the game. Mississippi State has a stout defense, so scoring before the Bulldogs get set defensively was emphasized. In the first half, Michigan State had eight fast-break points.
At the break, Walker was the leading scorer for the Spartans with 10 points. Akins was right behind him with eight points. He also grabbed three rebounds. Hoggard had a solid first half with five points and five assists.
Second half
Mississippi State got into foul trouble early in the second half. Tolu Smith III and Jimmy Bell Jr. each picked up their third fouls in the opening five minutes of the second half.
Heading into the under-16 media timeout, the Spartans were on a 6-0 run thanks to Hall, Akins and Walker, who each hit jumpers, and Mississippi State also had a 2:56 scoring drought.
The Spartans had their largest lead of the game after a pair of Walker free throws to give them a 43-29 lead with about 15:43 remaining to play.
Both teams then traded buckets. Michigan State made five-straight field goals and Mississippi State made six out of seven field goals heading into the under-12 media timeout.
The Spartans went into the huddle with a 53-43 lead, as Akins and Hall joined Walker in double-digits scoring.
Xavier Booker and Tre Holloman also got in on the scoring action. Both made big 3-pointers to extend Michigan State’s lead to 59-45 with 9:20 left on the clock. Holloman’s 3-pointer came after offensive rebounds by Booker and Sissoko.
Akins hit his third 3-pointer of the game after a steal by Walker and a drive and dish from Hoggard to Akins. Walker also nailed his third deep ball of the game to give himself 19 points and give Michigan State its biggest lead of the game at 17 points, 66-49.
The Bulldogs struggled offensively down the stretch. They ended the game with one made field goal in 15 attempts.
Davis Smith capped off the scoring with a deep 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring to give Michigan State the 69-51 victory.
Next up, Michigan State advances to the Round of 32 on Saturday and will face the winner of Friday's contest between No. 1-seeded North Carolina and No. 16-seeded Wagner.
