REHASH & ANALYSIS: Michigan State outlasts Ohio State, 84-78, on Senior Day

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State finished the regular season still hot from the field and long range, and prepared for tournament time with an 84-78 victory over Ohio State on Senior Day at Breslin Center.

The Spartans jumped out to a 17-4 lead, had some struggles on defense, but kept the Buckeyes at arm’s length the rest of the day.

Junior guard AJ Hoggard scored 23 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-3 from long range. He had six assists and no turnovers.

Seniors Tyson Walker, Joey Hauser and Malik Hall each hit double figures. They kissed the Spartan head logo at center court in victory with :05 seconds to go.  

Michigan State finished the regular season at 19-11 (11-8 in the Big Ten). Ohio State finished at 13-18 overall and 5-15. Michigan State exited the game in a seven-way tie for second place in the Big Ten standings, with the other six teams still to play this weekend.

“We had the toughest schedule in the Big Ten,” said Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo told the crowd at Breslin Center during postgame Senior Day festivities. “We dodged nobody. And these guys fought through those injuries and things we went through.

“On a lot of Senior Days, we have raised quite a few banners around this place. We are not going to raise one today, but … there’s a tournament coming up. There’s a couple of tournaments. So as they say, we’re not dead yet.

“There’s a room for a banner up there, guys. Let’s go to work!”

Over the last three games, Michigan State is a scorching 39 of 64 (60 percent) from 3-point range, and ranks No. 1 among Power Five conference teams in 3-point percentage for the season.

Michigan State shot 52 percent (90 of 171) from the field over the last three games.

However, one of those three games was the heartbreaker at Iowa, during which the Spartans squandered a 13-point lead in the final 1:34 and lost.

Michigan State had trouble delivering a knockout punch in this game against Ohio State as well, but avoided major mistakes down the stretch.

Meanwhile, Ohio State shot 48.3 percent for the game and 51.6 percent from the floor in the second half as Michigan State’s defense continued its late-season swoon. Izzo will have to work on that aspect of the team and get quick progress in order for the Spartans to be as dangerous in the tournaments as Izzo expects.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Hauser scored 16 points and remained red hot from behind the arc at 3-of-3.

Walker scored 15, to go with six assists.

Akins scored 13 points and was 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

Hall scored 10 points, all coming in the first half. He was 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-4 from behind the arc.

Brice Sensabaugh led Ohio State with 21 points. 

Michigan State shot 55 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point range, but Ohio State stayed competitive by shooting 48 percent from the flooor. 

TURNING POINT

After Ohio State cut the lead to 67-64 with 5:30 to play, Walker finished a driving, double pump scoop lay-up in traffic to make it 69-64 with 5:00 to play. 

Walker then provided energetic help defense on the next possession, and finished it with a strip steal in the lane.

Michigan State then went to the foul line on seven of its last nine possessions. 

The exceptions were a pair of field goals by Hauser and Hoggard.

Michigan State went to Hauser in the post after a time out, and he scored a half-hook in the lane to make it 73-65 with 2:47 left.

Next possession, Michigan State tried to post up Hauser again against the 6-foot-6 Justice Sueing. Hauser drew a foul and hit 1-of-2 at the free throw line (74-67 with 2:12 left).

Three possessions later, Hoggard scored on driving lay-up off a ball screen to make it 78-71 with 1:01 left. 

Michigan State went 8-of-11 from the foul line in the last 2:12.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Michigan State stretched its biggest lead of the second half to 12 at 61-49 when Walker executed a hanging, driving lay-up in transition with 12:36 to play.

But Ohio State answered with a 5-0 run, capitalizing on defensive errors by freshmen Tre Holloman and Carson Cooper.

Akins responded with a set-play 3-pointer from the left wing to push the lead back to 10 at 64-54.

But Michigan State surrendered a long offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer, and moments later Ohio State’s Sensabaugh hit a pair of a free throws (67-59)

MSU’s next possession ended with a baseline in-bound pass being intercepted and returned for a lay-up by Justice Sueing, and the Buckeyes weren’t going away, at 67-61 with 6:35 to go.

Then Hoggard missed the front end of a one-and-one. And Akins forced a difficult, early-offense 10-foot fall-away, a shot selection that Tom Izzo hated.

That opened the door for Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton to hit a 3-pointer behind a ball screen, and the lead was just 3 at 67-64 with 5:30 to go.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED 1

Michigan State’s defense, which has been iffy in the past two games, blew a few holes. Ohio State fought back to pull within 25-21. 

But Hall answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing off a Hoggard penetration-and-kick followed by an extra pass assist from Hauser.

On Michigan State’s next possession, Hall answered again with a clever step-back 16-footer with the shot clock running down. That gave Michigan State a 30-21 lead, and the bucket looked like the most skillful, controlled, effective version of Hall we’ve seen in weeks if not months. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED 2

Ohio State fought back again and cut it to 33-26. 

This time, Akins answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing after a time out (33-23), and then a hanging floater off the blitz counter break. He was fouled on the shot, hit the free throw and extended the lead to 36-26.

Two minutes later, Akins hit a 3-pointer from the left wing, again off the blitz counter break, to make it 41-32.

And with the Michigan State defense continuing to spring leaks, the Spartans’ blitz counter break continued to provide answers, this time with Walker hitting a pull-up 14 footer late in the first half to make it 43-34 at intermission.

Hall led Michigan State with 10 points at halftime. Akins, coming off the bench in order to make room for Hall in the starting lineup on Senior Day, had 9 points at the break. 

THE FIRST HALF

Michigan State raced out to a 17-14 lead, with Hall opening the scoring with an alley-oop dunk from Hoggard on the first possession of the game and then adding a 3-pointer as a trail man in transition to give Michigan State a 10-4 lead.

That triple caused Ohio State to call a time out, as Izzo greeted his team with an enthusiastic fist pump. Izzo looked even like he wanted to give 6-foot-9 Hall a chest bump, but thought better of it. 

Back-up point guard Tre Holloman’s 3-pointer from the right wing on an inside-out pass from Hauser made it 17-4.