MSU forward Malik Hall hands the ball off to guard A.J. Hoggard at the Breslin Center on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. The pair recorded 12 and 14 points, respectively.
To kick off the new year, the Michigan State men’s basketball team dominated the Penn State Nittany Lions 92-61 for both teams’ third Big Ten matchup of the season.
Heading into the game, Michigan State had yet to defeat a conference opponent having been downed by No. 21 Wisconsin and Nebraska and the Spartans were hungry for that first Big Ten victory.
Right from the jump, senior center Mady Sissoko won the tip for the Spartans and graduate student forward Malik Hall struck first a fadeaway jumper for two. Hall was an asset early on, logging nine of MSU’s first fourteen points through some tough, well-defended shots.
The Spartans started hot on both sides of the court knocking down shots and forcing some costly mistakes for the Nittany Lions.
About six minutes in, head coach Tom Izzo opted to run a bigger lineup with some of the younger players including freshman center Coen Carr and freshman forward Xavier Booker. Although Booker got a couple of points on the board, the fairly inexperienced lineup allowed Penn State to start slowly closing in on the Michigan State lead.
It was only a few minutes before Izzo subbed back in his experienced veteran guards and the Spartans regained firm control of the game.
Graduate student guard and MSU star player Tyson Walker was fairly quiet to start the game logging only four points in the opening minutes, but back-to-back threes from Walker put him firmly in the double digits and had the Izzone Alumni crowd going crazy.
On top of Walker’s offensive production, he logged six steals, one rebound and four assists — one of which was a lob to Carr for a classic Coen Carr dunk that never fails to get the Breslin crowd to its feet.
Earlier on in the matchup, senior guard A.J. Hoggard found himself sitting with two fouls, but sophomore guard Tre Holloman stepped up to the occasion. The underclassman tallied eight points in the first half, but more notably, five assists at the point for MSU.
Most everything fell into place for the Spartans and they went into the locker room with a 25-point lead.
Offensively, Michigan State was shooting about as good as it has shot from the floor all season with a 64.5% field goal and 62.5% from beyond the arc.
The Spartans continued to dominate following the half taking the lead to 30 with 15 minutes left in the game, but play started to get a little dicey with 10 minutes left MSU logged five turnovers in five minutes and went on a near four-minute scoring drought. Thankfully for the Spartans, their strong lead and Penn State’s less-than-stellar shooting percentages aided in their ability to maintain the lead through to the end.
The Spartans were able to get back on track after the minor Nittany Lion scoring run and the game was all but decided.
With the lead firmly in hand, Malik Hall went to the bench as the clock wound down after a stellar performance that included a career-high 24 points for the Spartans veteran.
Michigan State started off 2024 on a good note, but the Spartans will try to continue their Big Ten win streak on the road against Northwestern on Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
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