At first the Spartans dominated. Then they appeared to let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers. But after five minutes of bonus basketball on the island of Maui, the Michigan State Spartans gutted out a key win in overtime over the No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels, 94-91.
Six Spartans finished the game in double figures, as they took turns making game-changing plays. Tre Holloman led all scorers with a career high 19 points and game-high seven assists to just two turnovers.
Michigan State outshot the Tar Heels, 54% to 50%, and scored 24 points from the free throw line. The Spartans also dominated the boards (37 to 29), second chance points (11 to 3), and points in the paint (50 to 30).
North Carolina mainly stayed in the game thank to hot shooting from deep (11-23 for 48%). The Spartans finished the game shooting just 25% (4-for-16) from the three-point line.
The big story entering the game was that star freshman Jase Richardson for the Michigan State Spartans was seen wearing street clothes on the bench during warm ups.
Michigan State issued a statement just before tipoff clarifying that Richardson, who averaged 15.5 points in the first two games on Maui, “developed symptoms stemming from an elbow to the head that required further evaluation” and had been ruled out for the game.
In addition, Coach Izzo decide to replace senior transfer Frankie Fiddler in the starting line up with junior guard Tre Holloman to match up with UNC's three guard lineup. Holloman responded with the best performance of his career.
Michigan State got off to a strong start for a change, racing out to an early 10-2 lead five minutes into the game as North Carolina missed its first nine shots from the field.
The Tar Heels eventually found their footing as they cut the lead to four points with 11 minutes left in the first half, but the Spartan offense came alive following the second media timeout.
Tre Holloman hit two three-pointers and Fiddler added another as the Spartans pushed the lead back to double digits. The Spartans hit 4-of-10 three-point shots in the first half.
The Spartans led by as many as 14 points with 3:05 to play in the first half and at several points seemed poised to push the lead out even farther. But North Carolina hit several heavily contested shots to keep the game close. After the spell of cold shooting to start the game, the Tar Heels shot 14-of-18 in the final 15 minutes of the half.
Holloman lead the Spartans with 13 points at the half, including shooting a perfect 5-5 from the field with three made three-pointers. Tre almost had a fourth trey, but a last-second shot to close out the first half was waved off due to a shot clock violation by the narrowest of margins.
This precipitated a strange sequence where the teams were brought back from the locker rooms to play the final two seconds of the half several minutes after the ESPN broadcast was already giving highlights of other games.
Instead of a 12-point half time lead, Michigan State led just 43-34. The lost three points almost came back to haunt the Spartans.
Coen Carr also had a strong first half, scoring nine points including a highlight dunk on a fast break and several strong takes to the rim. Carr finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Frankie Fidler contributed seven first half points off the bench and finished the game with 13 points.
The Spartans got off to a solid start in the second half, pushing the lead up to double digits two-and-half minutes into the period, but the Tar Heels went on the quick 7-0 run to cut the lead to 51-48 at the first media timeout of the second half.
North Carolina continued to chip away until they finally took the lead by a point with 13:25 to play. In another strange sequence, Jeremey Fears drew a questionable foul near the sideline while Izzo was attempting to call a timeout to stem the Tar Heel run.
North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis did not agree with the call and was issued a technical foul. This turn of events gave the Spartans two free throws which allowed than to reclaim the lead and the momentum.
Then, it was sophomore Xavier Booker's turn to go on a spurt. The high school McDonald's All-American scored on offensive rebound putbacks on two consecutive possessions and then scored on a nice post move to push the lead back to seven points. Booker finished the game with 12 points and seven rebounds.
As time began to tick away, the Spartans appeared to take control of the game. With six minutes to play, Fears and Jadin Akins were able to get to the rim on three consecutive possessions, allowing the Spartans to build an eight-point lead with 4:30 remaining.
Fears ended the game with 13 points, including going 9-for-11 from the free throw line. He also added six assists, but his plus/minus rating of -9 was, by far, the worst on the team Wednesday night.
Akins chipped in 14 points, including several key buckets when Michigan State needed them
The layup by Fears, though, with under five minutes to play would be the final shot made from the field by the Spartans in regulation.
With North Carolina in the midst of almost a three-minute scoring drought, the Spartans had multiple chances to put the game away. A block by Akins almost led to a three from Holloman in transition, but the shot rattled out. Thirty seconds later, Booker had a wide open look from three, but he also missed.
Michigan State went 0-for-6 from three in the second half and overtime.
With under two minutes to play, Fears had a chance to add to the lead, but missed the front end of a one and one. Thirty seconds later, Carr split a pair of free throws.
With just over a minute to play, and the Spartans clinging to a 80-76 lead, Fears made a bad pass trying to break the Carolina press. The turnover led to an open three-pointer from UNC's Davis, which cut the Spartan lead down to just a single point with 60 seconds remaining.
Spartan Nation was very nervous at this point.
On the ensuing possession, Akins had the ball stripped and knocked off his leg, giving the Tar Heals the ball with a chance to win the game, but North Carolina's Elliot Cadeau missed an open layup that would have given the Tar Heels the lead.
After securing the rebound, North Carolina was forced to foul Tre Holloman, who buried two free throws, extending the lead to three points with 14 seconds to play.
Coach Izzo and the Spartans opted not to foul on the final Carolina possession in regulation. Fears lost his man on the perimeter and UNC's Seth Trimble hit a three to tie the game with five seconds remaining. The Spartans could not get a shot off in the final seconds as Fears ran into Holloman as the clock expired.
As the overtime period began, it felt like the Tar Heels had all the momentum, but it was the Spartans who made the plays that counted.
First it was Holloman, who - despite only scoring two points in the second half - snatched momentum back by drawing a foul and hitting two free throws, then by getting a defensive rebound, and finally by hitting a cutting Carr on the baseline for a dunk to give the Spartans a four-point lead just 74 seconds into the bonus period.
Then it was Booker's time to shine again. He got free for a dunk (also assisted by Holloman) and a layup on back-to-back possessions which allowed the Spartans to maintain a three-point lead with 90 seconds to play.
From there, the Spartans defense held steady and Holloman and Fears hit free throws to ice the game away.
Wednesday's win marks Tom Izzo's fourth career win over North Carolina and the first since 2017.
It will be a happy flight home for the victorious Spartans, who now have a week to recover. Michigan State returns to action next Wednesday at Minnesota as Big Ten conference play kicks off.
