People tuned in to watch No. 5 MSU square off against Indiana, but they were treated to the Gary Harris vs. Yogi Ferrell show.
MSU’s sophomore guard nearly scorched the ball with his hot hand and 17 points to take the slight edge over Indiana’s sophomore guard who finished the first half with 10.
The two have kept their teams in the rather sloppy game, with the Spartans taking the 33-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Harris and fellow Indiana native Branden Dawson have paved the road for MSU, combining to score ## in the first half. Although that paved road has been a bumpy one for MSU, with Keith Appling missing the better part of the half due to foul trouble.
Adreian Payne and Travis Trice also racked up two fouls, keeping their time on the court limited.
Besides the foul trouble it has been a smooth ride for MSU, holding the Hoosiers to 36 percent shooting and leading them in the rebounding battle 22-17. Prior to this game, Indiana led the nation in rebounding margin with plus-13.9.
The game started off on a steady pace with MSU scoring its first bucket on an and-1 layup by Dawon just over two minutes into the game. The first time the Spartans flexed their muscles came when Harris knocked down a 3-pointer from NBA range to go up 15-9.
After trading buckets in the middle third of the first half, Indiana started to chip away at MSU’s lead, cutting MSU’s lead to 25-24.
Dawson and Harris both didn’t enjoy the close game, and Dawson spun his way to a left-handed layup followed by a Harris long ball on the following possession to go up 30-24.
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