1. TEAM DEFENSE: The Spartans' smothering team defense stopped the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs only shot 37% on 20-54 shooting as the Spartans swarmed Miss. St with swarming on the ball and help-side defense. The Spartans forced 15 turnovers, including seven steals.

2. MADY SISSOKO: Staying on the defensive side of the ball, Mady Sissoko was the unsung hero. He played stout defense and had nine rebounds in just 17 minutes. Mady also added an assist, block, and steal.

3. JADEN AKINS: Akins finally found his shot, which was strong on both ends of the floor. He hit six of 14 shots (3-8 on three-pointers) and added seven rebounds. This was his best game since the Michigan game.

4. TYSON WALKER: Walker was more consistent throughout this game and played some excellent defense on Josh Hubbard. He still scored 15 points but took 18 shots and shot 33%. Walker added 19 points of his own on 7-12 shooting.

5. AJ HOGGARD: AJ played excellent defense, scored eight points, and had eight assists. Those eight assists pushed him over the 600 mark for his career, from 597 to 605, and he passed Eric Snow on the assist list, who had 599. Hoggard moves from sixth to fifth on the all-time assist leaders and is only one of five Spartans ever with 600 assists. AJ did have five turnovers, but that's what the Bulldogs do: put pressure on your point guard and your interior bigs.

6. NEW MSU ASSIST LEADERS LIST:

Cassius Winston: 890

Mateen Cleaves: 816

Scott Skiles: 645

Denzel Valentine: 639

AJ Hoggard: 605

Eric Snow: 599

Drew Neitzel: 582

Mark Montgomery: 561

Kalin Lucas: 558

Travis Walton: 555

Magic Johnson: 491

Keith Appling: 465

Steve Smith: 453

Draymond Green: 425

TumTum Nairn: 415

Travis Trice: 387

Charlie Bell: 371

Kevin Smith: 349

Terry Donnelly: 321

Sam Vincent: 306

Shawn Respert: 301

7. MALIK HALL: Malik scored ten points and grabbed five rebounds, which is pretty good considering they were trying to stop him and Hoggard from penetrating to see if Akins and others could make shots. Hall had five turnovers and no assists, but he should be fine, as inside defense is a Bulldog's strength.

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8. TRE HOLLOMON: Tre hit two of three shots but had some bad turnovers that let the Bulldogs back in the game in the first half. He hit a big 3-pointer, but he sometimes struggles to run the team.

9. DAVIS SMITH: Davis got in late and hit a 3-pointer, his second three-pointer this season, the first being against Georgia Southern.

10. TOM IZZO: Izzo is now 20-6 in first round games, and this was Izzo's 17th victory as a lower-seeded team.

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