It was The Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan Show Saturday night as MSU upset No. 4 Texas 78-72 in the Spartan Clash in front of a sold-out crowd of 22,076 at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The freshman guard and sophomore forward each scored 18 points – and for Lucas, it was a career high.
“Coach keeps stressing to me about taking good shots and open shots,” Lucas said. “And that’s what I did today.”
MSU head coach Tom Izzo said the key points of the game were transition defense, keeping Texas (11-1) out of the lane and most importantly, the lack of turnovers.
“That oughta be a season low, or an Izzo low,” said Izzo, who smiled about the six turnovers. “That was big – really big.”
The Spartans (11-1) led by as many as 13 points in the second half, thanks to 49.1 percent shooting, compared to Texas’ 39.3 field goal percentage.
And just when the game looked all wrapped up, A.J. Abrams, who finished with a game-high 24 points, buried four 3-pointers with less than a minute remaining – which cut the lead to five.
But Izzo said something like that isn’t uncommon for the Longhorns to do.
“That just says a lot about Texas’ team,” Izzo said.
The Longhorns’ A.J. Augustin had 22 points, as Damion Jones finished the game with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Texas head coach Rick Barnes said along with the fact that MSU does many of the little things right, the Spartans’ bench really stepped up and hurt them.
“Their bench, where they are is where we need to get,” said Barnes about MSU’s 29 bench points.
The Longhorns came out in a box-and-one defense, putting extra pressure on senior guard Drew Neitzel – who finished with 12 points on just six shots.
“They did a hell of a job on Neitzel, really stepping up on him,” Izzo said.
Early on, junior guard Travis Walton picked up two quick fouls, resulting in Izzo sitting him on the bench for close to 11 first-half minutes.
That’s when freshman guard Kalin Lucas decided he’d take over.
He stepped up for the Spartans in the early stage of the game, when no one else could find a rhthym – scoring seven of MSU’s first 11 points.
Lucas never slowed down, adding six assists and six rebounds to go along with his 18-point night.
Fortunately for the Spartans, Morgan kicked it up a notch, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half – which helped keep a solid lead on the Longhorns.
“With this win, we can only go up from here,” Morgan said. “It’s huge. It boosted our confidence – beating the No. 5 team in the nation is huge.”
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With just under six minutes to play in the half, MSU tied the game at 26 on an alley-oop pass from Lucas to junior forward Marquise Gray that caused The Palace’s crowd to erupt.
Texas quickly pushed the ball up the court, but failed to convert as Gray sprinted down the court and snatched the defensive rebound.
Neitzel then buried a 3-pointer in the corner, before Texas turned it over and gave MSU another basket on a reverse layup by Lucas.
Somehow, the crowd noise grew even louder.
The Spartans continued to pour it on, finishing the first 20 minutes on a 24-9 run to lead 41-33 at halftime – despite being outrebounded 15-14.
MSU shot 15-for-28 from the floor, including 3-for-4 from the 3-point arc.
Lucas led both sides at the half with 11 points, while dishing out three assists as well. Texas’ Damion James entered the locker room with 10 points and seven rebounds.
In the end, MSU was outrebounded 36-31, but managed to almost double Texas’ points in the paint, with 30.
Izzo called the win, “a very good Christmas present.”
The Spartans next battle Wisconsin-Green Bay at 4 p.m. Dec. 29 at Breslin Center.
