Tuesday, November 28
East Lansing, Mich.
6:30 PM
Michigan State University
4-3,0-0Big Ten
86
vs
55
Georgia Southern
0-7,0-0Sun Belt
1
2
F
Ga. Southern
11
44
55
Michigan St.
38
48
86
Photo by: Rey Del Rio
Five in Double Figures as No. 25 Michigan State Uses Big First Half to Beat Georgia Southern, 86-55
11/28/2023 9:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State put five players in double figures and opened up a 27-point lead at halftime en route to an 86-55 win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.
Junior guard Jaden Akins scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Spartans, while graduate guard Tyson Walker added 13 points and three rebounds.
Senior guard A.J. Hoggard finished with 12 points and four assists, while graduate forward Malik Hall added 11 points and nine rebounds and senior forward Mady Sissoko had 10 points and four rebounds.
Freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. had six points and a career-best 10 rebounds, while sophomore guard Tre Holloman had seven points and a career-best 10 assists.
Records
Michigan State improves to 4-3 overall, while Georgia Southern falls to 0-7.
Recap
Michigan State is off until next Tuesday, Dec. 5 (7 p.m.) when it opens Big Ten Conference play, hosting Wisconsin at the Breslin Center.
Junior guard Jaden Akins scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Spartans, while graduate guard Tyson Walker added 13 points and three rebounds.
Senior guard A.J. Hoggard finished with 12 points and four assists, while graduate forward Malik Hall added 11 points and nine rebounds and senior forward Mady Sissoko had 10 points and four rebounds.
Freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. had six points and a career-best 10 rebounds, while sophomore guard Tre Holloman had seven points and a career-best 10 assists.
Records
Michigan State improves to 4-3 overall, while Georgia Southern falls to 0-7.
Recap
- Michigan State led from start to finish, with a 3-pointer from Walker and a jumper from Sissoko in the opening minutes giving the Spartans a 5-0 lead.
- Tyren Moore and Deuce Dean each hit layups to cut the margin to 5-4, but that was as close as Georgia Southern would get.
- MSU extended its lead to 11-4 on a 3-pointer from Akins at 14:46 and used an 8-0 burst to take a 21-9 lead on a jumper from Fears with 8:36 to play in the half.
- That was part of 14-0 run as a layup from Walker gave MSU a 27-9 lead and the Spartans held the Eagles without a field goal for 8:13, when Moore hit a jumper at the 3:45 mark, making it 27-11.
- The Spartans closed the half with an 11-0 run, taking a 38-11 lead on free throws from Hoggard with 38 seconds left.
- The Eagles opened up the second half with an 8-4 run and cut the lead to 42-19 on a jumper from Dean at the 17:38 mark, forcing MSU to call a timeout.
- Georgia Southern got no closer than 21 points the rest of the way.
- MSU took a 30-point lead, 58-28, on a dunk from Sissoko with 11:44 left and twice took a 37-point lead, first on a jumper from freshman forward Xavier Booker (69-32, 7:35) and the last on a three-point play from Hoggard (72-35, 7:07).
- Michigan State limited Georgia Southern to 18.5 percent shooting from the floor in the first half (5-of-27) and opened up a 27-point lead at the break.
- MSU outrebounded the Eagles, 46-26, and had 16 offensive rebounds.
- The Spartans forced 20 turnovers and scored 17 points off those.
- MSU handed out 23 assists on 31 made field goals (74.2 percent).
- The Spartans shot just 63.3 percent from the free throw line (19-of-30).
- Michigan State beat Georgia Southern in the first meeting between the teams.
- The Spartans are 10-1 overall against teams from the Sun Belt Conference.
- MSU is now 4-1 at home this season.
- Spartans Head Coach Tom Izzo now has 691 career wins.
- Michigan State scored a season-high 86 points.
- It was the second time this season scoring at least 80 (Alcorn State, 81).
- The Spartans shot 51.7 percent from the floor (31-of-60), including 56.7 percent (17-of-30) in the second half.
- It was the second-best shooting mark this season for the team and the second time the team has shot above 50 percent (Alcorn State, 52.6%).
- The Spartans had an advantage of plus-20 in rebounds against Georgia Southern (46-26).
- It was the first time MSU had out-rebounded an opponent by at least 20 since a win over Western Michigan on Nov. 12, 2021, with a plus-30 edge.
- MSU handed out 23 assists, the second-most in a game this season and the third time this year with at least 20 assists.
- The Spartans had five players score in double figures for the first time this season.
- Tyson Walker led the team in scoring with 14 points.
- It was his sixth time this season leading the team.
- It was his sixth game in double figures this year and the 80th of his career.
- He has scored 924 points in 76 career games at Michigan State (12.2 ppg).
- Jaden Akins scored a season-high 14 points.
- It was his fifth game in double figures and the 19th of his career.
- A.J. Hoggard scored 12 points, his third-straight game in double figures.
- He has scored in double figures four this season and 38 times in his career.
- Malik Hall finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
- It was the fourth game in double figures this year for Hall and the 37th of his career.
- Hall now has scored 875 career points in 125 games (7.0 ppg).
- Tre Holloman had the second start of his career and finished with 7 points and a career-high 10 assists.
- Jeremy Fears Jr. scored six points and led the team in rebounding for the first time in his career with a personal best 10 boards.
- Mady Sissoko finished with 10 points, his second game in double figures this year and the seventh of his career.
Michigan State is off until next Tuesday, Dec. 5 (7 p.m.) when it opens Big Ten Conference play, hosting Wisconsin at the Breslin Center.
Team Stats
GS
MSU
FG%
.400
.517
3FG%
.240
.278
FT%
.556
.633
RB
26
46
TO
20
15
STL
10
8
Game Leaders
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
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