Saturday afternoon offered an exciting, but challenging matchup for college basketball fans as the undefeated and sixth ranked (9-0) Baylor Bears took on the Michigan State Spartans (4-5) in a neutral court matchup at Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit. The game did not disappoint as MSU's high-flying performance dominated the Bears from start to finish in a 88-64 victory. The win margin is the largest over a top-10 team in Spartan program history in fact.

Tyson Walker once again led the Spartans in scoring Saturday with 25 points alongside a team high five steals. Walker was also one of six players for MSU with a block each while going a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range. A.J. Hoggard was second on the team in scoring (14) while leading the team in assists (5) and grabbing three steals himself.

Tre Holloman added 11 points, while Mady Sissoko grabbed a team high eight boards and freshman Xavier Booker added seven points on perfect 3-for-3 shooting from the field.

MSU had a few clear imperatives in order to compete-in, and ultimately win, the contest:
1. Baylor’s dangerous guards could not dominate the game—Jakobe Walter, Jayden Nunn, Raymond "RayJ" Dennis, and Langston Love can all shoot, can all handle the ball, and all have explosive ability;
2. Malik Hall and Coen Carr would need to combine to win their positional match-up against the excellent Jalen Bridges and Caleb Lohner—two excellent seniors; and
3. The Spartan centers would need to find a way to at least draw their match-up against the towering Yves Missi and Josh Ojianwuna.

To accomplish this, the Spartans would need all four of their top players— Walker, Hoggard, Hall, and Jaden Akins—to bring their A-games on both ends all game. Furthermore, Hoggard and Akins would need to defend like their NBA futures depended on it. More than anything, the Spartans needed to make a lot of shots—to really see their season-long averages as a team begin to regress (statistically speaking) somewhere closer to the individuals’ career averages.

Luckily for the fans in attendance Saturday, MSU did just that. The Spartans started strongly, hitting shots early (including all four of Walker's 3-pointers of the game in the first half) and defended nearly perfectly in the opening minutes.

Walker scored 14 of his 25 total points in the first nine minutes of play and got Michigan State rolling. The Spartans didn't look back. More than at any point early in the season, the reserve guard duo of Holloman and Jeremy Fears, Jr. were both completely in-sync on defense when they came into the game. What is more, Coen Carr, Carson Cooper, and Xavier Booker all played just as superbly as Holloman and Fears through the first half.

A dominant first half lead of 45-17 sent MSU into the locker room at the half in commanding fashion. Tyson Walker outscored Baylor on the half on his own, ensuring the Spartans had more than enough cushion to work with heading into the second half.

While Baylor played better coming out of the locker room, Michigan State did not maintain quite the same level of excellence on defense. Despite the come-down from the highs of its first-half performance, Tom Izzo's team had more than enough scoring and defensive dynamism to see out the game to a 88-64 finish.

1) The hot start on offense, especially from Tyson Walker, gave the whole team confidence and ensured that ball-movement and player movement were outstanding throughout.

2) The scintillating defense in the first half was another. Baylor’s guards had no space, no driving lanes, only a couple of uncontested shots, and no easy passes. The Spartans finished the game with a near school-record 15 steals, which the team bolstered with a collective six blocks. Those 'stocks' (steals + blocks) helped generate a TON of easy transition points, including a series of dunks, layups, and alley-oops. Michigan State finished the game with 21 fast-break points, and scored 29 points total off 21 opponent turnovers.

3) The Spartans finished the first half with only one turnover. This guaranteed Michigan State got shots up on the rim and gave it offensive rebound opportunities (the team finished with eight offensive rebounds and 15 second chance points).

4) In the second half, the team weathered the storm. Baylor is the No. 6 team in the country for a reason and the Bears were going to play better. Michigan State did not go through any long lulls after the half-opening 9-0 run by Baylor, though. This ensured that -- despite the better shot-making from Baylor -- the visiting team could never really cut into the lead in a significant fashion.

1) The biggest development may very well have been the first-half stint from freshman Xavier Booker. He checked in with 9:16 left in the first half, immediately scored on a mid-range jumper (assisted by Hoggard) off a "zipper" action, and then played outstanding individual defense when his man tried to drive him from the perimeter. Booker's sealing off the drive allowed Hoggard to steal the ball and throw a perfect alley-oop lob to Coen Carr in transition: two huge plays that should give the staff and Booker a lot of confidence and a lot to build off of (even if his first stint in the second half was less effective).

Booker's fellow freshman, Coen Carr, for his part, had his best defensive performance of the season in the first half. Carr got two back-side rotation steals from help-position as the back-side defender helping the big. If he can execute those defensive reads and plays, then he can play meaningful minutes in high-leverage games.

2) While the team needed the center position to try to draw level with its opposite numbers, Carson Cooper and Mady Sissoko exceeded that design in this contest--combining along with Booker to record 19 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. If the Spartans get that kind of performance from that trio on both ends (all three, apart from Booker in the second half, were excellent defensively), then the Spartans can really start to grow as a team.

3) Tre Holloman and Jeremy Fears were outstanding. The two have shown promise this season, but this was by far their best game. Their play in the middle of the first half guaranteed the Bears wouldn’t come back when the starters took their rest. They were excellent on both ends the entire game, combining for 14 points, five assists, four steals, three rebounds, and one block.

4) Overall, the most exciting development was the defense. The Spartans were truly dominant at times, both playing solid defense and generating a ton of steals and blocks. If this team realizes and builds on the fact that it must be a defense first team, and it diligently and intensely defends all game, every game, then the early season blemishes will soon fade in the rearview mirror.

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