Junior guard Denzel Valentine and senior forward Branden Dawson scored back-to-back for the Spartans to gain the lead. Offense wasn’t hard to come by early, as Valentine curled around a couple screens to hit a three from the left wing and put MSU up 7-4, then found a wide open Matt Costello in the lane for an easy lay-in.

The Buckeyes regained a 12-11 lead, after a poor cross-court pass from sophomore Alvin Ellis was picked off by senior guard Shannon Scott, who finished in transition. On the next MSU possession, the Spartans couldn’t beat the shot-clock and it appeared as though the early offensive success had stalled.

MSU threw several different defenders at OSU’s Russell, but at the 11:35 mark, Russell nailed a face-up three over junior guard Bryn Forbes, a very favorable matchup for him. Less than a minute later, he spotted up for another three over Nairn to give OSU an 18-13 lead.

Nairn answered for the Spartans in a very surprising way—he hit his first three of the year, on just his fourth attempt. The triple narrowed the Spartan deficit to three.

“Tum Tum” once again was the spark plug for MSU, taking a defensive rebound the length of the court and blowing by defenders in transition before finishing a contested lay-up.

A Valentine three from the top of the key gave MSU a 23-22 lead, and on the next possession, Trice passed up a three before feeding Dawson in the post for the lay-in.

The transition game proved effective, and after a Trice lay-up on the break, MSU started to swing the game. Over the last 8:07 of the first half, a stifling defensive performance held Ohio State to just four points. Meanwhile, MSU opened up a 33-24 lead and Breslin started to rock.

Dawson posted impressive first half numbers, recording 10 points and 7 rebounds. Valentine finished with eight points, and OSU’s Russell led his team with eight points as well.