Spartans Lead Late but Fall to Nebraska, 77-70

Lincoln, Neb. – Michigan State's men's basketball team had a three-point lead with just over three minutes left in regulation but could not hang on as Nebraska beat the Spartans, 77-70, at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday evening.

Graduate forward Malik Hall scored a season-high 22 points and had seven rebounds to lead four players in double figures.

Graduate guard Tyson Walker scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, while adding four rebounds and two assists, senior guard A.J. Hoggard finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists and junior guard Jaden Akins had 10 points and four rebounds.

Records
Michigan State falls to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten Conference, while Nebraska improves to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Recap

The Spartans led by three at the half (34-31), but an early run from the Huskers gave the hosts a six-point lead twice as it neared the mid-point of the second half, the last at 46-40 on a layup from Juwan Gary.
Michigan State tied the game at 52-all on a layup from Hoggard at 10:03, but Nebraska pushed the lead back to four points, 56-52, on a layup from C.J. Wilcher.
That's when Walker caught fire, scoring 11-straight points and hitting back-to-back 3-pointers as the Spartans used an 11-4 burst to take a 63-60 lead at 5:10.
A jumper from Walker made it 65-62 with 3:11 to play, but off baskets from Gary and Brice Williams, Nebraska took a 67-65 lead.
Free throws from Hall tied the game at 67-all with two minutes left but the Huskers scored six-straight points and took a 73-67 lead on free throws from Williams with 39 seconds left and MSU
In a back-and-forth first half with 10 lead changes and three ties, the Spartans went into the break with a 34-31 lead after Hall hit a jumper with 1:14 left.
The Spartans had jumped out to an early 15-9 lead at the 11:48 mark on a layup from Akins, but the Huskers responded with a 14-3 run, including three-straight 3-pointers, to take a 23-18 lead on a trey from C.J. Wilcher at 8:40.
MSU countered with a 7-0 burst in a minute, with Hall hitting a 3-pointer, a dunk from sophomore center Carson and a jumper from Hall at 7:09 giving MSU a 25-23 lead.
There were six more lead changes over the next four minutes until freshman forward Coen Carr hit a jumper at 3:16 to give MSU a 32-31 lead and Hall's basket extended the lead to three-points.

Key Stats

Nebraska shot 50.0 percent from the field (27-of-54), including 64.0 percent in the second half (16-of-25).
The Huskers finished the game with 10 shots from 3-point land, including seven in the first half when they connected on 43.8 percent of their long distance attempts (7-of-16).

Notes

Michigan State leads the all-time series with Nebraska, 23-10.
The loss ends an 11-game win streak in the series and this was Nebraska's first win against the Spartans since Jan. 20, 2016.
MSU is 9-7 all-time in games played in Lincoln and MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo is 15-4 all-time against the Huskers.
Izzo now has a career record of 691-285 (.708), including a 333-162 (.673) in Big Ten Conference play.
MSU led 34-31 at the break and this was the first time this season the Spartans trailed after leading at halftime.
Nebraska hit 10 shots from 3-point land, the second-straight game MSU has given up 10.
The Huskers shot 50 percent from the floor, an opponent season-high against Michigan State.
The Spartans committed just nine turnovers, the fourth time this season with fewer than 10.
Malik Hall led all scorers with a season-high 22 points, while grabbing seven rebounds and handing out three assists.
- He led MSU in scoring and rebounding and tied for the team lead in assists.
- It was his fifth game in double figures this year, the 38th of his career and his third career games with at least 20 points.
Tyson Walker scored 17 points, including 15 in the second half.
- Walker has scored in double figures seven times this year and 81 in his career.
- In his two-plus years at MSU, Walker has now scored 962 points in 78 games (12.3 average).
A.J. Hoggard scored 12 point and tied for the team lead with three assists.
- This was his sixth-straight game in double figures and the sixth this season.
- He led the team in assists for the fifth time this season.
Jaden Akins scored 10 points, his sixth game in double figures this year and the 20th of his career.

Up Next
Michigan State is off until Saturday, Dec. 16, when the Spartans travel to Detroit to play No. 6 Baylor at Little Caesars Arena (FOX, 2 p.m.).

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Team Stats

Malik Hall

Tyson Walker

A.J. Hoggard

Jaden Akins

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Coen Carr

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Tyson Walker

Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Coen Carr

Malik Hall

A.J. Hoggard

Tyson Walker