The Michigan State Spartans returned to Big Ten play Thursday night with a visit from the Penn State Nittany Lions. In what was also its first game of 2024, MSU didn't miss a beat as it dispatched the Nittany Lions easily in a crushing 92-61 victory.
The Spartans improve to 9-5 on the season, and picked up their first conference win to 1-2 in league play. The Nittany Lions drop to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten play.
The Spartans came into their first game of 2024 and looked like they picked up right where they left off by getting out to a quick 6-0 lead spearheaded by veterans Malik Hall and Tyson Walker. A chippy game early on, there seemed to be words exchanged by both teams. The verbal dustup only seemed to fuel the Spartans even more as they further built their lead out to a 14-6 advantage, led by Hall, who had nine of those points and was perfect from the field.
The Nittany Lions were able to respond with a big time dunk by junior Nick Kern and a three by senior D’Marco Dunn, but the Spartans were able to answer those right back with some great offensive rebound work by Xavier Booker. Some beautiful ball movement after a Walker pick and roll led to a trey by A.J. Hoggard, which extended MSU's lead to 21-12 with a little under 10 minutes in the first half.
It wasn’t just the offensive end where the Spartans were firing on all cylinders. Defensively, Michigan State had very active hands that led to easy baskets on the other end. A Jaden Akins steal and pass to Walker for a layup extended the lead to 25-12, which forced a Nittany Lions timeout. The turnovers continued for PSU out of the timeout, leading to a flurry of Walker threes to increase MSU's lead to 33-16 with just under eight minutes remaining in the opening half.
The Spartans continued to turn offense into defense throughout the first half. Offensively the Nittany Lions had no answer for the smothering Spartans defense. MSU continued to keep its foot on the gas as it took a 51-26 lead into halftime.
MSU had an exceptional first half on both ends of the floor. Michigan State held Penn State to 38% shooting from the field and 10% shooting from 3-point range, all while forcing 14 turnovers. On the offensive end, MSU shot a blistering 65% from the field and 62% from three. The Spartans were led by Hall who had 15 if his career-high 24 points in the opening half, while Walker pitched in with 13 points of his own.
The Spartans did not lose a step in the second half as the home team pressed its advantage to an early 30 point lead. Then some turnovers by MSU unfortunately led to baskets for PSU as the Nittany Lions cut the lead to 20 with just under eight minutes left.
After a timeout by coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans seemed to regroup and got timely buckets from Walker, Akins, and Hall as MSU fans watched their team's lead balloon back out to 27 points. The Spartans continued to keep their foot on the gas as they picked up a 92-61 victory.
Michigan State was led by Malik Hall who had a career-high 24 points and also chipped in five rebounds and four assists. Tyson Walker also stuffed his stat sheet for the night, pouring in 22 points alongside five assists and six steals.
MSU will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 7 as the team travel to Evanston to take on the Northwestern Wildcats. Start time was just announced for the matchup at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and the game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
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