Indianapolis - Michigan State would not be denied against No. 4 Kentucky down the stretch, as the Spartans earned a 86-77 upset victory over the Wildcats in two overtimes Tuesday night to spoil Oscar Tshiebwe’s excellent season debut.
The Spartans played a focused and intense brand of basketball for the second-consecutive game, this time in the annual Champions Classic. Mady Sissoko had another career performance, logging 16 points and eight rebounds against a handful of an opponent in Tshiebwe.
"It's a big win for the program," Izzo said. "It was a big program win, not an individual win."
Joey Hauser finished with 23 points and eight rebounds in 46 minutes. The senior shot 50 percent from the field and 57 percent from three. He provided the Spartans with plenty of key buckets down the stretch.
As often as Kentucky looked like they'd go on a run, Michigan State continued to claw back and make things interesting. The Spartans' fight earned them a win over an experienced and athletic Kentucky team.
"There's a lot of guys I'm happy for because they've kind of withstood the test of time," Izzo said. "They didn't decide to transfer and quit. They stayed in it, and that's something they deserve, at least for tonight. We'll see if we continue that."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Tshiebwe was the first of either big man to foul out of the game, doing so with :32.8 seconds left in the first overtime. This freed things up for Michigan State moving forward.
A travel on Kentucky’s Sahvir Wheeler gave Michigan State the ball back with 1:32 left to play. Tyson Walker drove to the basket with ease, drawing a foul before Jaden Akins grabbed what would have been Michigan State’s 16th offensive rebound of the night.
Walker converted on both foul shots to extend Michigan State’s lead to four with 1:09 to play.
"Tyson's grown up," Izzo said. "He's got some time in now. He, too, has kind of figured out the culture here and what is needed. Defensively, he made some big plays."
A pick-and-roll alley-oop from Walker to Sissoko with 1:45 left in the game gave Michigan State a 78-76 lead.
Michigan State forced the second overtime with a full-court set play with seven seconds left. A.J. Hoggard inbounded the ball over the heads of a few Kentucky defenders to Walker at mid-court. Walker proceeded to find Malik Hall for a game-tying dunk.
"We thought we had a play, number one, and I'm reinventing myself," Izzo said on the decision to run that play. "I'm changing. I'm doing things different than I did a couple of years ago. I'm trying to figure out ways to reinvent myself, and my staff has been really helpful with that.
"We thought we had a play, that if it worked - and it almost didn't work - but it did work, and it was just a perfect pass from A.J. to Tyson, and an even better pass from Tyson to Malik. That was a heck of a play."
Michigan State forced the first overtime period when Hoggard found Hall wide-open on a baseline out-of-bounds play with :03 seconds remaining in regulation. Hall’s dunk tied the game at 62.
TURNING POINT
Hauser used a second-chance jumper from the left elbow to tie the game at 58 with 2:34 left to play in the second half.
On the previous Kentucky possession, Tshiebwe grabbed an offensive rebound on his own missed layup underneath the basket, but Walker stripped the ball on his way back up the hoop.
Walker had his layup attempt blocked by Jacob Toppin on Michigan State’s following possession, but Sissoko recovered and found Hoggard, who knew to look for Hauser on the designed play.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
Akins, Hauser and Hall finished off the first half strong. The trio combined for 16 points in the final 8:32 of the half. Hauser scored all three of his first-half three-pointers in that stretch.
Kentucky went on a 7-0 run starting at 14:54 in the second half. Cason Wallace used back-to-back buckets to extend Kentucky’s lead to four. Wallace logged two steals during that time.
The Wildcats flashed their defensive ability at multiple points in the game. Michigan State didn’t look comfortable early in the second half against Kentucky’s length and athleticism, but managed to stay in it.
Michigan State was without Sissoko for that 7-0 run after he logged his second and third fouls early in the half.
A Pierre Brooks floater tied the game at 46 with 10:22 to go, but he was a touch slow on the next Chris Livngston baseline drive. Livingston was fouled and made one of two free throws to give the Wildcats a one-point lead.
Sissoko re-entered the game with eight minutes to go in the second half and immediately scored on a putback dunk off Walker’s missed layup. Tshiebwe went to the bench with his third foul just a few seconds prior to the play.
Seconds later, Sissoko made both of his free-throw attempts after getting fouled by Ugonna Onyenso. Michigan State took a 51-50 lead.
"He just did a heck of a job," Izzo said of Sissoko. "I mean, the guys are so happy for him, and so am I."
Iowa transfer C.J. Fredrick made his first three of the game to give Kentucky a 56-52 lead and enough momentum to potentially pull away with 5:23 left in regulation. But Michigan State continued to hold strong.
A bad pass on an alley-oop attempt from Wheeler to Tshiebwe was picked up by Sissoko on the play before Fredrick's three. Hall received the ball on the right block later in the MSU possession, but his hook shot attempt was denied by Tshiebwe.
Wheeler made up for his previous turnover by finding Fredrick wide-open on the left wing for the three.
Michigan State responded well, with Hauser scoring on a designed catch-and-shoot play at the left elbow. That cut Kentucky’s lead to two with 5:01 to play, but Sissoko picked up his fourth foul on the following Kentucky possession.
Tshiebwe made both free throws to extend the Wildcat lead to four with 3:53 remaining.
Hauser was called upon to score at the end of regulation. He recorded seven of the Spartans' last 11 points in the second half.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Hauser’s 23 points led the Spartans. He and Sissoko tied for the team-lead in rebounds with eight.
Hall finished the game with 20 points and five rebounds. His last-second dunks at the end of regulation and the end of the first overtime were key to the Michigan State win.
Akins was active for much of the first half, grabbing a few key rebounds and flashing some athleticism on certain baskets. The sophomore finished the game with seven points.
Michigan State finished with 18 turnovers, but zero in overtime.
Tshiebwe recorded a double-double in his first 17 minutes. He finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds, leading the Wildcats in both categories.
Wallace tied the Kentucky program record with eight steals on the night.
Michigan State will travel back to East Lansing on Friday, Nov. 18, to take on Villanova.