The starters for Michigan State struggled all night outside of senior forward Gabe Brown who scored 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half. MSU also got solid contributions off the bench from sophomore center Mady Sissoko with nine points and freshman guard Jaden Akins with six points, but it proved too little to make the game competitive.

The game started at a frenetic pace with the Spartans and Wolverines combining to make eight of the first 10 shots of the game. The Wolverines maintained a narrow 14-11 lead thanks to making its first five shots from the field. 

The Wolverines quickly turned the three-point lead into a 12-point lead in three minutes thanks to a 14-0 overall run that spanned 3:32. During that time, MSU could not get anything going on offense and struggled to deal with Dickinson’s length on both ends of the court.

After hanging around a 10-point deficit, things went from bad to worse down the stretch of the first half as the uninspired defensive effort continued. The Wolverines pushed the lead to 41-24 with an 8-0 run with four minutes left in the half due to the lack of resistance from MSU defensively. 

Dickinson was the one that led the way with 12 points in the first half. Three other Michigan players scored at least six points early while MSU’s leading scorer was junior forward Malik Hall with five points. The Wolverines shot 60.7% from the field (17-28) compared to 39.3% (11-28) for MSU. Michigan used the strong offensive performance to take a 44-28 lead into the locker room.

The Wolverines got its first 20-point lead three minutes into the second half after Houstan drained another three. Brown did his best to match the effort with a pair of threes of his own but Michigan kept pouring in shots to keep MSU an arm’s distance away.

The Spartans finally started to chip away at the deficit thanks to a strong rotation from reserves Sissoko and Akins who combined to score 11 points in just over two minutes to help cut Michigan’s lead to 64-51 with 9:24 left.

The lead never reached single digits though as Dickinson stabilized with six straight points to extend back to 73-56 with just over six minutes remaining. Michigan cruised to the finish from that point to walk away with the 17-point victory.

The loss drops Michigan State to 19-10 on the season and 10-8 in conference play. The Spartans will return to action for its final road game of the season on Thursday against Ohio State before finishing the season at home against Maryland on Sunday.