In many of the recent Michigan State losses to Northwestern, Wildcat guard Boo Buie was the Spartan killer. On Sunday night, Buie had a very solid game, earning his first career double-double with 19 points and 10 assists while committing no turnovers.

But it was a balanced attack by the hometown Cats that led to the upset win over the Spartans. Five Wildcats scored in double digits, including Ty Berry with 22 points (going 4-for-7 from deep). When the clock reached zero, Northwestern earned the win over Michigan State by a final score of 88-74.

NU has now beaten MSU for the third straight time for the first time since 1959 to 1962.

The Spartans managed to get four players into double figures. Tyson Walker led all scorers for the night with 27 points. Jaden Akins and A.J. Hoggard both had 13 points, while Carson Cooper chipped in 10 points. Hoggard also recorded his 500th career assist at NU in the first half, one of his team high eight total for the night.

After back-to-back games with over 18 points from Malik Hall, the senior forward recorded zero points and zero rebounds in 26 minutes in Evanston, though.

The Michigan State defense failed to play with the same intensity that marked its previous five wins. Northwestern shot 54% from the field (32-for-59) and 39% from deep (9-for-23).

The Spartans also struggled to take care of the ball, especially in the first half, leading to a final turnover deficit of 13-to-5. Compounding the many problems was a below average performance from the free throw line where Michigan State went just 15-for-22 (68%), including a pair of key misses on the front-end of one-and-ones in the first half.

The Spartans and Wildcats traded baskets in the first 10 minutes of the first half with neither team leading by more than four points. MSU started hot from behind the 3-point line, hitting four of the first six long-balls in the period, including three from Walker.

The Spartans even managed to get the transition game ignited with nine of the first 22 points coming off the fastbreak. At the same time, the Michigan State defense held down Northwestern’s potent 3-point shooting early in the game. The Wildcats missed their first seven 3-point attempts.

But midway through the first half, mistakes began to pile up for the Spartans, and the Wildcats began to build a lead. NU was able to consistently get into the lane, leading to 24 first half points in the paint.

To make matters worse, Michigan State gave up eight offensive rebounds that resulted in eight second chance points for the home-town Cats in the first 20 minutes.

The Spartans turnover problem was also the most severe in the first half. MSU committed 10 first-half turnovers to just two for NU. At the break, Northwestern had taken 13 more shots from the field than had Michigan State in large part due to the poor ball security by the Spartans..

Northwestern finally got hot from deep as well in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Overall, the Wildcats used a 20-5 run in the final 7:12, including an 8-0 run in the final 1:20 of the first half to take a 46-31 lead at the break.

The back end of the first half was typified by a key play with 1:20 remaining. With the Spartans trailing by only seven points, Hoggard appeared to get a steal that seemed poised to trigger a fast break for the Spartans. Instead of cutting the lead to five points, Hoggard’s pass was deflected and the ball found its way to NU's Ryan Langborg who hit a trey to extend the Wildcats' lead to 10 points.

Michigan State seemed to start the second half with more energy, quicky cutting Northwestern's lead down to 11 points. But the Spartans gave up three early 3-point shots in the first five minutes of the second period. Walker was then issued a technical foul during the first media time out, and NU's lead ballooned to 18 points with 14:55 to play.

With 12:30 to play, MSU head coach Tom Izzo changed things up by inserting Jaxon Kohler into the game. The sophomore forward has been recovering from a foot injury to date this season and Sunday night was his first action of the 2023-2024 Spartan campaign. While Kohler appeared rusty and only played for three minutes, his appearance on the court was a welcome sign for MSU's front-court.

The Spartans managed to correct many of the issues which plagued them in the first half, committing just three turnovers in the second stanza while not giving up a single offensive rebound.

However, the defensive rotation was slow at times for MSU, allowing NU to hit five wide open threes in the second half. While MSU did manage to make a few pushes against NU's lead, trimming it to within 11 points on several occasions in the second half, the Spartans just could not get any closer.

With the five-game winning streak now broken, there is no rest for Michigan State. The January tour of the state of Illinois continues on Thursday night with a trip to Champaign-Urbana, Ill. to face the No. 9 Illinois Fighting Illini. The game tips off at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and will be televised on FS1.

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