No. 11 MSU and Nebraska are tied at 33 at halftime behind 11 points from senior guard Denzel Valentine, while senior forward Shavon Shields leads the way for Nebraska with nine points.
MSU head coach Tom Izzo said this week he thought Valentine had been playing too timid since his return, trying not to hurt the flow that was established in his absence, but there would be no sign of timidness from Valentine tonight, scoring all 11 of his points in the first six minutes of action.
MSU opened the game scoring five points in the first 50 seconds of the game, causing Nebraska head coach Tim Miles to call an early timeout to get his players going.
Nebraska responded and went to the first media timeout with MSU's lead down to 14-13. After the timeout, Nebraska went on a 8-0 run of its own, fueled by Shields who scored five of his nine first half points during the run.
MSU responded with an 8-0 run of its own to take a brief 22-21 lead before Nebraska took the lead back. During the run, MSU attacked the hoop, with all eight of the points coming in the paint, including a thunderous dunk by senior forward Matt Costello. Costello caught the ball at the three point line and drove to the hoop for the dunk. Costello ended the first half with four points and four rebounds.
Senior guard Bryn Forbes shooting struggles continued in the first half, starting the game 0-for-4 from the field until he got a three pointer to go with just over two minutes to play in the half. His only points of the half gave MSU a 33-29 lead.
Fouls had been a big point of emphasis for Izzo this week after committing 28 fouls in the game against Wisconsin last Sunday, and MSU cleaned it up, committing just six fouls in the first half, leading to only four Nebraska free throws.
MSU shot 48.3 percent in the first half, including 45.5 percent from three point line on 5-of-11, compared to Nebraska's 51.9 percent shooting and 25 percent from the three point line.
MSU also assisted on 11 of its 13 first half field goals and outrebounded Nebraska 17-16 while only committing four turnovers.
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