After Saturday's stunning loss to Texas Southern, The Citadel (4-7) gave the Spartans everything they could handle in the first half. Despite solid defense from MSU (9-4), The Citadel shot 4-of-9 from three point range.

Junior forward Denzel Valentine had seven points at the halftime, three of which came after a timeout with 13.7 seconds left in the half. Valentine came off of a screen and Trice found him on the left wing for the triple.

Leading just 32-26 at halftime, MSU looked like it may have its hands full in the second half, but the Spartans jumped all over the visitors coming out of halftime, opening things up with an 11-0 run before The Citadel was forced to call a timeout.

“We really weren’t worried,” Trice said of his team’s mindset at halftime. “You gotta give them credit. They hit some tough shots. Some of them were our fault – we were leaving guys open, missed communication on defense. But coming in here at halftime, I just saw the look in everybody’s eyes. We already knew we were gonna pick it up and then that’s what sparked that run that we had.”

The Spartans scored 19 straight points while holding The Citadel scoreless for nearly seven minutes. The MSU defense didn’t allow a field goal for over 14 minutes going back to the first half, before The Citadel broke through with a bucket in the paint at the 8:48 mark.

MSU’s shooting struggles from beyond the arc continued in the first half, but the Spartans adjusted, turning to Schilling and junior forward Matt Costello in the post throughout the game. Schilling ended with 11 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes, while Costello totaled 13 points and five rebounds in 16 minutes. It was Costello’s fifth straight double digit scoring game.

“Lately, we’ve been focusing on going inside and playing from inside out first,” Schilling said. “We’ve been doing a good job of that because once the ball goes inside, something successful happens. Either we get a good pass out for a shot or we make our move and get a score inside.”

After MSU overwhelmed The Citadel with its run, the Spartans continued to pile it on. MSU’s largest lead (34 points) came at the 7:55 mark in the second half.

Filling in for Dawson, freshman forward Marvin Clark Jr. had a much better outing. After getting benched for the second half against Texas Southern for not being “attentive,” according to Izzo, Clark Jr. contributed 12 points and six rebounds.

“Tonight he did a lot better things,” Izzo said of Clark. “He guarded a little better. He rebounded pretty good. He did some better things – I think he'll grow from this.”

Valentine, who was playing in goggles because of a scratched cornea suffered in Saturday’s game, had a solid all-around game, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Trice finished with 11 assists to just two turnovers.