MSU senior guard Denzel Valentine finished with 29 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds, all the while helping the No. 13 MSU basketball team knock off the No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks in the Champions Classic, 79-73
With a pair of MSU big men out of the action Tuesday night in junior forward Gavin Schilling and sophomore forward Marvin Clark, the Jayhawks exploited a mismatch on the inside early by going to senior big man Perry Ellis.
Ellis had nine of the Jayhawk's first 13 points and helped Kansas to an early 13-9 advantage with about 13 minutes to go in the half.
The story for MSU for a large part of the first half was struggling to score points. With 7:59 to go in the first half, the Spartans were shooting just 32 percent on 6-of-19 shooting. As a result of this, the Jayhawks began to pull away and eventually held a 26-13 advantage.
Turnovers and fouls also hurt the Spartans in the early going. MSU finished the first half with 10 turnovers and 15 team fouls.
Despite all this, MSU eventually settled into the game and clawed their way back into it, finishing the half shooting 40 percent from the field, while holding Kansas to just 38 percent shooting in the first half. The Spartans trailed the Jayhawks by six at the break, 41-35.
In the second half, MSU continued to hang around the Jayhawks, at one point closing the lead to three, 51-48, with 14:22 to go in the game.
However, from there Kansas went on a 10-2 run to take a 61-50 lead with 9:34 to play in the game, prompting a MSU timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Spartans once again went on a run, spurred on by Valentine, to tie the game at 62 a piece with just over six minutes left in the game.
And a 3-pointer from Valentine with just under five minutes left in the game gave MSU its first lead since it was 6-4. The Spartans led 65-64.
The next time up the floor, the Jayhawks connected on a pair of free throws to go back up 66-65. But a 3-pointer on the other end from freshman Matt McQuaid put MSU back on top 68-66.
The teams continued to trade blows over the next couple of possessions. With 1:11 to go in game, Valentine continued to will the Spartans to the lead, 72-71.
And another McQuaid 3-pointer with under a minute to play put MSU up 75-71. The Spartans never looked back, knocking down their free throws down the stretch to take the game from Kansas, 79-73.
