Ann Arbor — The Spartans spent all week saying this meeting with the Wolverines wouldn’t be as lopsided as the team’s first meeting this season, and it proved true in the opening 20 minutes.
The Spartans and Wolverines met as a pair of top-10 teams for the second time in three weeks, and the opening half was very different from the first, as the No. 9 MSU men’s basketball team (22-6 overall, 11-4 Big Ten) led No. 4 Michigan (23-5, 10-5) 31-28 at halftime.
The Spartans led for most of the half, but never by much, with their lead never growing to larger than seven points.
Junior center Adreian Payne drained a 3-pointer on the game’s opening possession and helped MSU take an early lead, scoring eight of the team’s first 10 points.
Payne finished the half with a team-high 12 points and four rebounds in the first half, while freshman guard Gary Harris added seven points.
But turnovers plagued the Spartans in the opening 20 minutes, as U-M turned five MSU turnovers into six points within the opening nine minutes.
Burke led a balanced attack for the Wolverines with 11 points and four assists, while guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Glenn Robinson III scored six points apiece.
Sophomore guard Travis Trice came off the bench to score six points off a pair of 3-pointers for the Spartans, as junior guard Keith Appling battled foul trouble, picking up his second foul toward the end of the first half.
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