It was a fast-paced, back and forth start to the game, as Michigan State hung in early, surprisingly, from the three point line. Kentucky won the opening tip and a Collin Chandler back cut and layup put
the Wildcats up 2-0. Chandler hit a three to extend it to 5-0. MSU responded with threes from Jaxon Kohler and Trey Fort to go up 6-5. Coen Carr continued the shooting renaissance for MSU with a corner three that put the Spartans up 9-7. A few possessions later, a Carr drive and kick to Kohler led to yet another triple and a 12-10 MSU lead.
Michigan State couldn’t convert a few fast break opportunities as Kentucky pulled back ahead 17-14 at the first media timeout, which didn’t occur until the 13:15 mark.
Tom Izzo substituted liberally coming out the first break and the MSU reserves were effective. Kur Teng got a steal on the defensive end and then hit a three to tie it at 17. A baseline jumper from Cam Ward put MSU back up by two going into the under 12 minute break.
Michigan State extended the lead to six on a nice left handed baseline hook from Carson Cooper and a 15 foot jumper from Teng as MSU was on a 9-0 run.
A jumper from Otega Oweh proved to be just a small dent in the Spartan’s run. Teng found Jesse McCulloch on the break to make it 25-19, Spartans with 7:45 left in the first half. Kentucky arrived at the third media timeout with zero offensive rebounds in addition to the six point deficit.
Two more threes, from McCulloch and Fort, extended the MSU lead to 31-19 before the teams spent a few possessions trading free throws. A Fears drive put MSU up 13 and two more hoops from Kohler, one jumper off a fake and hook in the lane, extended the Spartan lead to 38-22.
Kam Williams hit a much-needed triple for Kentucky but Fort responded with a mid-range jumper to make it 40-25, MSU.
The teams traded free throws coming out of the under four minute break before Kur Teng hit a really tough baseline jumper at the end of the shot clock on MSU’s last possession of the half. Teng’s bucket gave the Spartans a 44-27 lead and that’s it remained at halftime.
The Spartans picked a good time to get the lid off the bucket in hitting 52% of their shots in the first half, including 7-13 threes, while holding Kentucky to just 28% shooting and 4-15 from deep. MSU also dominated the boards in the first half by a 24-14 margin. Kohler led MSU with 12 points on 5-6 shooting and four rebounds at halftime while Fears and Teng each had seven points. Denzel Aberdeen had nine points for Kentucky and did most of that damage from the free throw line where he hit all six of his attempts.
It was a fast-paced, back and forth start to the game, as Michigan State hung in early, surprisingly, from the three point line before taking a big lead into halftime. Kentucky won the opening tip and a Collin Chandler back cut and layup put the Wildcats up 2-0. Chandler hit a three to extend it to 5-0. MSU responded with threes from Jaxon Kohler and Trey Fort to go up 6-5. Coen Carr continued the shooting renaissance for MSU with a corner three that put the Spartans up 9-7. A few possessions later, a Carr drive and kick to Kohler led to yet another triple and a 12-10 MSU lead.
Michigan State couldn’t convert a few fast break opportunities as Kentucky pulled back ahead 17-14 at the first media timeout, which didn’t occur until the 13:15 mark.
Tom Izzo substituted liberally coming out the first break and the MSU reserves were effective. Kur Teng got a steal on the defensive end and then hit a three to tie it at 17. A baseline jumper from Cam Ward put MSU back up by two going into the under 12 minute break.
Michigan State extended the lead to six on a nice left handed baseline hook from Carson Cooper and a 15 foot jumper from Teng as MSU was on a 9-0 run.
A jumper from Otega Oweh proved to be just a small dent in the Spartan’s run. Teng found Jesse McCulloch on the break to make it 25-19, Spartans with 7:45 left in the first half. Kentucky arrived at the third media timeout with zero offensive rebounds in addition to the six point deficit.
Two more threes, from McCulloch and Fort, extended the MSU lead to 31-19 before the teams spent a few possessions trading free throws. A Fears drive put MSU up 13 and two more hoops from Kohler, one jumper off a fake and hook in the lane, extended the Spartan lead to 38-22.
Kam Williams hit a much-needed triple for Kentucky but Fort responded with a mid-range jumper to make it 40-25, MSU.
The teams traded free throws coming out of the under four minute break before Kur Teng hit a really tough baseline jumper at the end of the shot clock on MSU’s last possession of the half. Teng’s bucket gave the Spartans a 44-27 lead and that’s where it remained at halftime.
The Spartans picked a good time to get the lid off the bucket in hitting 52% of their shots in the first half, including 7-13 threes, while holding Kentucky to just 28% shooting and 4-15 from deep. MSU also dominated the boards in the first half by a 24-14 margin. Kohler led MSU with 12 points on 5-6 shooting and four rebounds at halftime while Fears and Teng each had seven points. Denzel Aberdeen had nine points for Kentucky and did most of that damage from the free throw line where he hit all six of his attempts.
Michigan State started with the ball in the second half and drew fouls on Chandler and Brandon Garrison but couldn’t get a hoop on their first possession. Kentucky showed some life with a transition dunk by Oweh to make it 44-29. MSU responded with a Fears to Carr lob. Brandon Garrison got inside and got one to fall for Kentucky. Fears responded for MSU by creating space and hitting a 10 footer in the lane. Fort found Kohler in transition to give MSU its biggest lead at 50-31 but two Kentucky buckets trimmed the MSU lead to 15 at the under 16 break.
Chandler picked up his fourth foul just prior to the media timeout but Kentucky created a turnover for a touchdown coming out of the break to make it 50-37.
Michigan State responded with two more threes from Kur Teng, one on a shot fake and step back and one in the corner from Fears, to get the lead back to 19 at 56-37. Kentucky was able to cut into the lead just before the under 12 timeout with an and-1 from Jasper Johnson and it was 58-44 MSU with 11:46 to go.
Two free throws from Malachi Moreno and another steal – touchdown from Williams had Kentucky within 10.
Fort hit a very tough finish along the baseline when MSU really needed a bucket and got the lead back to 12. Izzo was angry and called timeout after MSU committed a turnover and didn’t get back on defense. This led to a putback by Johnson and got Kentucky back within 10 at 60-50 with 9:37 to go.
The Spartans got the message from Izzo during the timeout and McCulloch hit a key corner three to extend the MSU lead to 63-50. The teams traded hoops from this point until the under eight minute timeout. Mouhamed Dioubate hit over Kohler. Teng responded with a jumper for MSU. Fears found a wide open Kohler at the basket for MSU and then Oweh hit a corner three for Kentucky. Teng missed his next three point attempt on the other end but hustled for the rebound and tipped it to Kohler for the layup to make it 69-55 with just under seven minutes to go.
The Spartans seized momentum coming out of the media break. Kohler was fouled and hit two free throws. Fears found Ward late in the shot clock for an alley oop that Ward went WAY up to get. It was Ward’s sixth point and Fears’ twelfth assist. After a Spartan stop on the defensive end, Ward struck again with a strong drive and suddenly MSU was up 20. After each team made a single free throw, it was 76-56 MSU at the last media break with 3:08 to go.
Fears was at the free throw line coming out of the break and hit both to make it 78-56. Izzo rewarded him with a spot on the bench and a big pat on the back. Denham Wojcik, who came in for Fears, found Ward on a nice slip play and MSU was up huge, 80-56. Fort added another three off a shot fake and Izzo was able to empty the bench with 41.1 seconds to go. It ended 83-66, MSU.
Kohler finished with 20 points for MSU while Fears scored eight and finished with 13 assists. Kur Teng had a career night with 15 points on 6-12 shooting with three triples. Trey Fort added 13 points and, together with Teng, alleviated a lot of concerns around MSU’s shooting guard position. Oweh had 12 points and four rebounds to lead Kentucky.
The Spartans finished by hitting on 50% of their shots – both inside and beyond the arc while holding Kentucky to just 35% overall and 23% from deep. MSU outrebounded Kentucky 42-28 including a 10-6 advantage on the offensive boards. Finally, the Michigan State bench came up big with 34 points to Kentucky’s 22.
I’ll go ahead and end this now so we can get to ice cream and the five factors.
