No. 16 Michigan State headed to Evanston on Sunday hoping to take care of business and remain undefeated in Big Ten play and did just that against Northwestern. The Spartans downed the Wildcats 78-68 for a ninth-straight victory on the season. The win improves MSU to 14-2 overall and 5-0 in conference action.

The win briefly gives MSU sole possession of first place in the standings one-fourth of the way through the league season, but second place Michigan is already facing off against Washington in Ann Arbor at time of publishing so that may be short lived. The loss drops NU to 10-6 on the season and 1-4 in conference play. The Wildcats are in a three-way tie for second-to-last place in the standings, though a Huskies' loss against the Wolverines would improve NU and Rutgers to third-to-last place in comparison to UW.

Three players finished in double figures for MSU Sunday with Jaden Akins leading the team with 14 points. He joined the 1,000-point club in the second half. Akins also had the team-high steals with five.

Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with 12 points and the team-high in helpers with eight. Jase Richardson added 13 points as well. Jaxon Kohler, Tre Holloman, and Frankie Fidler all came just short with eight points apiece.

On the boards, four Spartans totaled five rebounds each with the glass being an overall team effort. MSU held a 37-30 advantage in rebounds, but let NU outrebound on the offensive end with a 14-10 edge.

Two Wildcats finished in double figures with Nick Martinelli posting the game-high 27 points. Jalen Leach added 17.

The Spartans fell behind early, trailing by three points twice before cutting it to one ahead of the first media break. The Wildcats were able to push their advantage out to as much as five, leading 13-8 just over five minutes into regulation. MSU went on a 34-9 run from there to just over two minutes left in the half and never looked back.

Back-to-back treys for the Spartans kicked off the run, but there was a smorgasbord of highlights by the offense for much of the first half.

Impressively, MSU put on an offensive performance on the road against the fourth-best defensive team in the league. NU was just behind MSU in defensive points per game, giving up 66.2 compared to MSU's 65.9 coming into the game Sunday.

Yet 10 players for MSU saw the court in the first half, and all 10 scored at least one basket. Most points came from inside the paint, but the Spartans went 4-for-6 from 3-point range. Layups were the one low-point on the half as the Spartans managed just 4-for-10. Still, the dunking reel was strong.

Michigan State also controlled the ball well in the first half, committing just three turnovers on the half while notching 19 rebounds overall, four of which were offensive boards that resulted in five points. While the team was perfect on every player scoring, rebounding fell just shy of that as nine of the 10 Spartans recorded at least on board in the first half.

MSU's bench was its usual impressive group on the half, totaling 24 of the team's 47 points. By comparison, NU managed just 28 points as a team. The Wildcats posted a poor 10-for-31 performance shooting from the field, and the Spartans held them to just 4-for-15 from 3-point range. That is well below the 32.5% season average from deep for NU.

Richardson led the Spartans with 10 at the half while Akins had eight and a team--high six assists as the teams headed to the locker room with a 47-28 advantage.

While the Spartans largest lead was 23 in the first half, the team managed to push its advantage back to as much as 20 about two and a half minutes into the second half. From there, MSU stalled out and let NU keep it from a second-straight blowout after Michigan State downed Washington on Thursday by 34 points. Still, the highlight reel was alive and well for MSU despite the inability to keep the game as lopsided in the second half as it did in the first.

The shooting performance for MSU after halftime likely reinforces the urban legend of inconsistent rims in Evanston, though, as Michigan State finished the second half just 9-for-25 from the field compared to its 18-for-29 performance of the first half. The Spartans also failed to score a single 3-pointer, going just 0-for-2 from deep.

The poor shooting finally caught up to MSU in the closing stretch. Despite holding a 17-point advantage after a jumper by Fears with 4:39 remaining brought the score to 69-52, NU mounted a 10-2 run to give Spartan fans watching a bit of post-lunch heartburn if not a true scare as just :46 remained on the clock.

The Wildcats couldn't manage to cut their deficit to fewer than eight in the final minute and were forced to foul to try and even it up. The Spartans hit enough of their free throws at the charity strip to avoid any comeback and it was 78-68 at the final buzzer.

Michigan State returns to the court next against Penn State. The Nittany Lions visit East Lansing on Wednesday, Jan. 15 with tip set for 7:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

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