Michigan State is headed back to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time under head coach Tom Izzo after downing New Mexico 71-63 Sunday night.
The Spartans advance to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2023 with the win and will take on No. 6 Ole Miss on Friday in Atlanta. Tip is set for 7:09 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS. The matchup marks just the second time in program history the Rebels will be playing in the regional semifinal and the first time since 2001.
Jaden Akins led the Spartans in scoring Sunday with 16 points, while Tre Holloman added 14 and Frankie Fidler scored 10 for players in double figures. Coen Carr came just shy with eight points along with six boards, trailing Carson Cooper's team-high eight rebounds. Holloman led the team in takeaways with three steals and matched Jase Richardson in helpers with four apiece for team high.
Nelly Joseph matched Akins for the game high in scoring with 16, while Mustapha Amzil and Donovan Dent each scored 14 apiece for the Lobos.
Michigan State got behind early to start as the Lobos opened a 7-0 lead. The Spartans finally got a rhythm and hit four-straight field goals heading into the first media break down 16-11 with 13:17 left in the first half. Given the first media timeout occurred so late into the game, play only made it another minute and 23 seconds before the next commercial break in action with no changes to the score.
Poor shooting was the theme for MSU through much of the first half. The Spartans went just 11-for-26 from the field and a paltry 1-for-9 from 3-point range. Only five players would end the half with at least one field goal while Holloman (nine) and Akins (eight) were the only players with more than four points in the half.
The shooting trouble continued down the next stretch of play as Michigan State fell behind by double digits, trailing 24-14 by the next media break with 7:57 remaining until halftime. MSU dug in defensively and kept it from getting out of hand, but the offense failed to meaningfully eat into the lead as the Lobos led 29-22 at the final media break of the half at the four-minute mark.
When play resumed, that script finally flipped as the Spartans continued an eight-point run sparked by a Carr dunk prior to the break to pull within one, down 29-28.
At the buzzer for the half, the Spartans trailed 31-29. While close in score, the statistics were fairly even or in MSU's favor otherwise. The Spartans' bench had 17 points to the Lobos' four, 17 points in the paint were tallied for MSU to 16 for UNM, MSU had eight points off the fast break to UNM's one, and the battle at the glass was a lock at 15 each.
Coming out of the locker room, Michigan State opened up its first lead of the night thanks to a 6-0 run that forced an early timeout by New Mexico. The Spartans led 35-31 just shy of three minutes into the half.
The game was back-and-forth from there with five ties or lead changes by the time the Lobos called a timeout with 13:11 remaining and MSU up 44-39. The stop in play came after a 7-0 run by the Spartans capped off by a trey from Akins.
The Spartans weren't able to sustain any extended runs to put the Lobos out for good, though, as UNM managed to keep it within five or closer through the next two media breaks, even tying it up with 7:39 to go at 51-51. Then a trey from Akins gave the Spartans the lead for good.
Fiddler added a layup as well just before the next media break with 6:38 to go to give MSU a 56-51 lead.
Coming back from the break, Fidler missed his and-one attempt, but scored again down low the next possession.
New Mexico did not want to make it easy and tried to rally again, pulling within five to make it 63-58 with 2:38 left but started to rely on fouls to try and keep it close. Michigan State put it out of reach for good down the stretch to keep dancing.
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