EVANSTON, Ill. - There must be something in the air in the Windy City.
Cruising to its tenth straight victory in the Greater Chicago area, No. 3 MSU defeated unranked Northwestern 74-58.
MSU head coach Tom Izzo said he was pleased with the team’s effort, especially in the first half.
“It was a very good first half for us,” he said of the half that saw his team begin with a 10-0 run.
“I was happy with the play with a couple of guys, but I thought that we could have had a better second half. Northwestern deserves some credit because they made us turn the ball over, especially in the second half.”
Sophomore guard Jason Richardson led MSU with 16 points off 5-of-6 shooting in the win.
Freshman center Zach Randolph, who was double- and tripled-teamed by the Wildcats early, added 15 points and six rebounds.
It’s his third straight game where Richardson has led the team in scoring, and he said he has worked hard to regain his shooting touch.
“I’m trying to be just as consistent as Morris (Peterson) last year,” Richardson said. “My shot still feels good and the hard work has paid off.”
Northwestern’s Tavaras Hardy had a team high 17 points for the Wildcats.
The loss extends Northwestern’s consecutive Big Ten losing streak to 29 games and extended the Spartans’ road record to 51-18 since the beginning of the 1997-98 season.
MSU (16-1, 5-1 Big Ten) began their dominance early after a three-pointer by senior guard Charlie Bell.
Bell, who became just the third Spartan ever to record over 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists, added 12 points and six assists and five rebounds in the win. He said he was pleased with how the team got off to a quick start.
“We need to improve our effort after we get large leads,” he said.
Northwestern guard Ben Johnson scored the Wildcats’ first points of the game three minutes into the game after connecting on a layup and drawing a foul.
Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said there were some bright spots in his team’s performance, but added that MSU was too tough down the stretch.
“I thought we did some things tonight that have been better in past games, but MSU is a team that executes very well,” he said.
Senior forward Andre Hutson contributed in the win by scoring six points and three rebounds.
Senior guard David Thomas started and contributed six points and four rebounds.
MSU had its largest lead in the first half with less than a minute remaining, gaining a 41-18 edge and led 41-22 at the half.
Richardson led MSU at the break with 12 points off 4-of-4 shooting from the field.
Ben Johnson, Hardy and Aaron Jennings led the Wildcats with five points each.
Leading the nation with an 18.5 rebound average over its opponents, MSU had a 16-9 lead on the glass at the half and 32-22 advantage overall.
Northwestern (7-12, 0-7) cut the MSU lead to 71-58 in the second half after a free throw by Jason Burke, but were dominated in the paint, with the Spartans scoring 44 points inside compared to the Wildcats’ 22.
The Spartans will head next to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday - the second of a three game road stretch - to face unranked Ohio State at 3:15 p.m.
Eric Lacy can be reached at lacyeric@msu.edu.
