Northwestern's Boo Buie leads Wildcats to 70-63 upset over Michigan State
Once again, Northwestern guard Boo Buie lit up a Michigan State squad, this time in a 70-63 upset win for the Wildcats over the Spartans. Spoiling Michigan State’s Big Ten home season opener, NU has now won three of its last four matchups against MSU and its second-straight in the Breslin Center.
The loss hands the Spartans the team's fourth loss of the season, moving MSU to 5-4 along with a 0-1 mark in league play. The Wildcats move to 6-2 overall and 1-0 in Big Ten play. The teams will not play each other again in the regular season.
Center Mady Sissoko and guard A.J. Hoggard led Michigan State in scoring with 12 points each. Forward Joey Hauser added 10 points as the only other Spartan to reach double-digits, while also leading the team on the glass with eight rebounds. Hoggard led MSU in steals with three, while Sissoko led the team with two blocks.
Buie led all scorers with 20 points, including going 7-for-7 from the free-throw line and shooting 6-for-14 from the field. Northwestern guard Chase Audige added 15 points, while guard Ty Berry scored 11 for the Wildcats. NU also won the rebound battle narrowly, grabbing 31 to MSU's 30.
Michigan State had a great start as the Spartans won the jump ball and guard Jaden Akins (who returned after missing time with a foot injury) quickly hit a 3-pointer to get on the board first. Northwestern struggled early, but managed to hit its own 3-pointer by Berry just before the first media timeout to trail 7-6.
Michigan State managed to stretch its lead out to seven points on a 3-pointer by guard/forward Pierre Brooks with 12:44 remaining, but Audige quickly responded for Northwestern to make it 17-13 with MSU leading heading into the second media timeout. That Audige score sparked an 8-0 run by the Wildcats to take the team’s first lead of the game, 18-17, on a Buie jumper with 10:55 remaining.
Michigan State was able to rally and mounted a 10-2 run of its own to retake the lead at 27-20 with 8:25 left in the first half. Berry managed to hit a 3-pointer for NU to halt the Spartans’ run ahead of the third media timeout which came at the 7:29 mark.
Northwestern was able to rally back and tie it up at 29-29 with 4:53 left. Then, with 3:00 remaining, Buie hit a layup to give NU a narrow 33-31 lead and Michigan State never recovered. The Wildcats headed into the locker room a few minutes later with a 38-37 lead at halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, Michigan State was able to quickly cut Northwestern's lead to one point on a 3-pointer by Hauser less than a minute into the half. The 41-40 NU lead would be the closest MSU was able to get until less than a minute remained in the game.
The Spartans never let the Wildcats run away with it in the second half. The worst Michigan State trailed was by nine points with 11:26 remaining, but it remained in single-digits throughout.
Finally, the Spartans broke through late in the game, thanks to an and-one play for Hoggard after drawing a foul by Audige on a layup with 1:27 remaining. Hoggard's three-point play the old-fashioned way cut NU's advantage to 64-61. A missed 3-point shot attempt by Buie saw Sissoko grab the rebound, leading to a Hoggard layup with 46 seconds remaining to cut the Wildcats' lead to just one point.
Unfortunately, Buie managed to respond on the other end to extend Northwestern's lead to 66-63, and a timeout by NU immediately after saw Spartan fans streaming for the exit. By the final buzzer, missed shots by MSU and four free throws for Northwestern ended with the Wildcats winning by the final score of 70-63.
Michigan State returns to the court on Wednesday in University Park, Pennsylvania. The Spartans will take on Penn State at Bryce Jordan Arena Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The game will air on the Big Ten Network.