The boos echoed throughout Assembly Hall every time he touched the ball.
The chants rained down as he stood at the free throw line for the first time, less than two minutes into the game.
Men's basketball trails Indiana at half
“Gary sucks! Gary sucks! Gary sucks!”
Welcome back to Indiana, Gary Harris.
The Spartans’ freshman guard returned to his homestate for the first time since spurning the Hoosiers for MSU, and the locals did everything they could to make it an unhappy homecoming.
And even though Harris had scored seven points by halftime, it was No. 7 Indiana (17-2 overall, 5-1 Big Ten) leading the No. 13 MSU men’s basketball team (17-3, 6-1) 44-38 at the break.
Indiana jumped out to a quick 7-2 start behind the support of a raucous home crowd and the athleticism of Victor Oladipo.
The energetic junior guard scored eight points with four steals and four rebounds in the first half to pace Indiana’s fast break.
The Spartans spent most of the week talking about avoiding “turnovers for touchdowns,” as head coach Tom Izzo calls them, referring to turnovers that lead to easy fast break layups. But Indiana scored eight points off layups from turnovers, with each score bringing the Hoosiers’ capacity crowd to a fever pitch.
Yet by the first media timeout, MSU had found its sea legs, evening the score at 13 after a tip in from sophomore guard/forward Branden Dawson with 14:15 remaining in the opening half.
Dawson finished the first half with eight points, three rebounds and three steals for MSU.
Indiana responded out of the timeout with a 7-0 run to take its largest lead to that point in the game, capped off by a 3-pointer from senior guard Jordan Hulls that put Indiana in front 20-13 with 13:05 to go.
Indiana maintained its lead for the about the next 10 minutes, before a 12-2 run helped MSU regain the lead 31-30. Five different Spartans scored during the run.
Junior center Adreian Payne paced the Spartans in the first half with 13 points and three rebounds, including an acrobatic reverse alley-oop dunk in the half’s final minute.
READ MORE
But after a shot clock violation on their final possession of the opening 20 minutes, Indiana turned to freshman guard Yogi Ferrell, who buried a 3-pointer as time expired, doubling Indiana’s lead to six points.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
