Michigan basketball fades in rivalry showdown loss with MSU Spartans

The Michigan Wolverines (8-18, 3-12 Big Ten) lost 73-63 to the Michigan State Spartans (17-9, 9-6 B1G) at Crisler Center on Saturday night, being swept in the season series by their in-state rivals. The Wolverines did not score the last 7:01 of the contest.

MSU fans showed up to Crisler and were the louder, more rambunctious fanbase for much of the night, which is understandable given the trajectories of the two programs and the product on the floor. U-M has now lost 18 of its last 23 games after starting the season 3-0. This is Michigan State’s first sweep of the season series over U-M since the 2018-19 season when the Spartans took all three meetings, including the Big Ten Tournament final.

Michigan was led in scoring by sophomore center Tarris Reed with 15 points. Classmate and point guard Dug McDaniel had 13 points on the night.

Here is the full recap from Saturday night’s rivalry showdown in Ann Arbor.

First half

MSU forward Malik Hall got the scoring started early for the Spartans with a jumper at the 19:32 mark. From there, Michigan rattled off a 5-0 run on baskets from Olivier Nkamhoua and Jaelin Llewellyn, in addition to a free throw to go up 5-2 at 18:22. Over the next four minutes or so, the teams would trade baskets with Michigan holding a 14-12 lead with 14:40 remaining in the first half of play.

The pace slowed down considerably prior to the under-12 media timeout at 11:05 with each team scoring one basket apiece on a Tarris Reed basket and Tyson Walker jumper for MSU, bringing the score to 16-14 with 13:27 to go. Hall tied the game at 16-all with a layup at 10:51. After a Nimari Burnett layup, MSU went on a 6-0 run to take the lead back at 22-18 with 8:55 remaining on the clock. Dug McDaniel hit a three-pointer for the Wolverines at 8:40 to trim the lead to 22-21 for the Spartans before a Tre Holloman layup and Nkamhoua free throw.

Up 24-22, the Spartans extended their lead to 31-22 on a 7-0 run at the 4:21 mark, answered by a 7-0 run from McDaniel to bring the score to 31-29 with 3:04 remaining. MSU rattled off four-straight points before U-M went on an 8-0 run bolstered by three-pointers from Burnett and Llewelyn, taking a 37-35 lead with 40 seconds to go. The Spartans closed out the half with four free throw makes, the last two coming on a foul at the buzzer from McDaniel on MSU’s Davis Smith. MSU led 39-37 at the half.

Second half

Reed got the scoring going in the second half, tying the game on 39-all 21 seconds into the half. MSU’s Hall matched with a jumper before a 5-0 run from the Wolverines thanks to a three-pointer from McDaniel and a layup from Nkamhoua, pushing the score to 44-41 in favor of the Wolverines. Walker of the Spartans hit a layup to bring the score to within one, but the Wolverines rattled off another four points on layups from Reed and Nkamhoua to push the advantage to 48-43 with 16:45 on the clock. AJ Hoggard got two back for the Spartans to put things at 48-45 at the under-16 media timeout.

Michigan and MSU traded buckets at 14:25 and 13:32, respectively, before a layup and-1 situation for Llewellyn, pushing the Wolverine lead to 53-47 at 13:13. The Spartans rattled off five-straight points from there – all from Walker – to trim U-M’s lead to one point. Reed had a dunk and-1 for Michigan before a 4-0 run by MSU tied the game at 56-all with 11:28 to go.

The MSU run would eventually stretch to 9-0 and allow the Spartans to take a 61-56 lead with 9:40 remaining. Reed stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throw makes to climb back within three before a Burnett three-pointer at 8:07 tied the game back at 61-61. Michigan State would grab the lead back at 63-61 at the under-8 media timeout (7:20) on a dunk from Carson Cooper.

From there, it would be all Spartans the rest of the way, riding out the game with a 12-2 run to grab the victory at Crisler.

Michigan vs. Michigan State: Final box score, stats