The No. 4 Michigan State Spartans opened the 2023-2024 regular season tonight versus the James Madison Dukes with the first November home loss of MSU head coach Tom Izzo's career, falling 79-76 in overtime.
The loss marked the first home opener defeat for the Spartans since 1976 when MSU fell to Western Michigan 74-73 on Dec. 4.
Tyson Walker led all scorers on the night with 35 points on 12-for-26 shooting from the field, also leading MSU in steals with six and tying A.J. Hoggard and Tre Holloman with three assists each.
Coen Carr was the only other player for Michigan State to finish in double digits for scoring, totaling 14 in his debut as a Spartan. Jaden Akins led the team on the glass with 11 boards, while Carr and Malik Hall each added six.
Terrence Edwards, Jr. led the Dukes in scoring with 24 points, while T.J. Bickerstaff added 21 for a double-double alongside his 11 rebounds.
MSU's starting five for the night consisted of guards Tyson Walker, Jaden Akins, and A.J. Hoggard, forward Malik Hall, and center Mady Sissoko.
The Dukes got the scoring started first with a 3-pointer, but on the Spartan’s second possession, Walker answered with a mid-range jumper on a smooth inbound pass from Hoggard for the first basket of the year for the Green and White. Almost two minutes later, Hoggard scored his first points of the year on a layup, but the Spartans were cold, missing their first five 3-pointers.
Hall found himself in foul trouble early, as he committed two within the first four minutes. With that, the first substitutions of the game were made. At the 16:00 minute mark, freshmen Jeremy Fears Jr., and Xavier Booker saw their first minutes of the year and were joined by Carson Cooper, while Akins and Walker remained on the floor.
Fears scored the first point of his young career on a free throw. He missed the first two but was given an opportunity for a third attempt as the result of a lane violation, which he eventually capitalized on.
The Dukes remained in control for the first 10 minutes while the Spartans stayed cold, only scoring nine points. MSU was even cold on the line, converting just two of seven free throws. The Dukes held a 13 point lead at the midway point of the first half.
Akins committed his second foul at the 8:04 mark and was replaced by Carr, who made his second appearance of the night off the bench.
Holloman scored his first points of the year on a big 3-pointer which cut the Dukes lead to four with just about two minutes remaining in the first half. This ended up being the only 3-pointer for the Spartans on the entire night, ending just one-for-20 from deep.
After trailing by double-digits with just 5:50 left in the half, the Spartans stormed back down the stretch. As halftime approached, Walker led the way for MSU with 11 points and Hoggard not too far behind him with seven, and Carr with six. The Spartans trailed the Dukes by just four at half, with the score 37-33.
After the half time break, the Spartans returned four of their original starting five, minus Mady Sissoko who was replaced by Cooper. It took several minutes for MSU to get going again, but Hall finally got the ball rolling in the second half by making back-to-back buckets, and tied the game at 37 each. But once again MSU could not capitalize on the momentum, and the Dukes took the lead right back.
The Spartans had a slow start to their second half, and still could not shoot the 3-point ball. MSU still managed to finally take its first lead of the game came at the 15:16 mark of the second half when Akins hit a jumper. It was short lived as just about twenty seconds later the Dukes reclaimed their lead with a trey.
Cue graduate student Tyson Walker, who capped off a 6-0 scoring run for MSU, and the crowd erupted as the Spartans seized a narrow 50-48 lead with just under 11 minutes left in the game. Walker was essentially a one-man show for much of the game, finishing with a career-high performance that bested his previous high of 31 points last season in a Feb. 25 loss at Iowa.
The most impressive freshman of the night was Carr, who provided some much-needed energy in a big moment. The high-flying freshman had 14 points and 6 rebounds off the bench and added yet another highlight reel dunk when he flew down the lane to put back Walker’s missed layup with just over 7:00 remaining to extend MSU's narrow lead to 56-53. The Breslin Center erupted again on the slam.
Overtime was certainly not on the bingo card tonight for fans' predications. Nor was it something the team seemed prepared for. The Dukes seemed to dare the Spartans to shoot it from deep in the extra period, but MSU ended with just one of its 20 attempts from deep on the night in extra time.
Instead, the first points of the overtime period came when Walker hit both free throws after he drew a foul almost a minute and a half into the period. The Dukes had yet another answer, and made a three of their own to retake the lead.
Walker seemingly put the Spartans on his back, and with just under two minutes left in overtime, drew a foul while driving down the lane. He could not capitalize on the and-one and Hall grabbed the rebound, but his attempt to throw the ball off a Duke’s defender was unsuccessful and resulted in a Spartan turnover. Before this, Walker scored the previous 12 points for the Spartans.
In the closing moments, the Dukes hit a 3-pointer with just over eight seconds left to put the game on ice, and Spartan fans started to exit the building. MSU only led for 10 minutes and 22 seconds on the night and seemingly could not string anything together offensively. James Madison ended up shocking the Spartans with a final score of 79-76.
Michigan State will return to the court looking to get into the win column again on Thursday Night. Southern Indiana visits the Breslin Center for a 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time matcup. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
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