Freshman forward Miles Bridges went to work early attacking the basket. After driving baseline and finishing with a right-hand reverse layup, Bridges delivered an acrobatic tip-in, falling right yet using his 6-foot-9 wingspan to give an outstretched left hand a chance at getting a touch on the ball.  

The first five minutes saw low scoring. 9-8 with 14:30 remaining in the half, MSU had missed six of their last seven shots, 0-4 from three-point land.

The Shockers heavily threw the ball into the low post, looking to expose the front court depth issues of MSU. In MSU's loss to Baylor, forward Jonathan Motley torched the low post, scoring 26 points.

Out of the second media timeout, MSU quickly exploded on a 7-0 run, led by a three-point field goal by guard Matt McQuaid and a darting dribble-drive layup by guard Alvin Ellis. This run gave the Spartans the lead and extended it to 17-12. MSU's defense was able to hold the Shockers to a field goal drought of 0-6 shooting over three and a half minutes during this run.

The Spartans found themselves in foul trouble early. With 8:51 remaining in the half, the Shockers were already in the bonus. Redshirt-sophomore forward Kenny Goins, freshman guard Joshua Langford, forward Matt Van Dyk, Ellis and Bridges, all with two fouls by the end of the half. Guard Kyle Aherns had three fouls.

WSU faced similar foul trouble issues, putting the Spartans in the bonus with just over eight minutes remaining in the half.

MSU controlled much of the latter 10 minutes of the first half.

Spartans mounted a 13-0 run sparked by three-point field goals from McQuaid. McQuaid was lights out as he converted on all of his shots, 4-for-5, for 11 points, the high scorer in the half.

This run pushed the Spartans to a 12 point lead before the Shockers were able to knock down a jumper to end the run.

Both benches ingited the majority of scoring for both teams. The MSU combo of McQuaid, Ellis and Ward combined for 21 of 24 bench points for the Spartans. The Shockers' bench scored a massive 25 points out of the team's 29 points.