Michigan wilts badly in the second half, falls at MSU, 83-67
EAST LANSING, MI — Michigan came out with a seemingly solid game plan early at Michigan State, getting the ball inside early and often. The Wolverines’ defense was loose, though, and MSU took advantage when the U-M interior offense struggled in the second half.
The Spartans pulled away for an easier than expected blowout win, 83-67.
Freshman Moussa Diabate was a force early. He scored six points in the post in the first 10 minutes and grabbed three offensive rebounds in working the glass.
U-M got several good looks but couldn’t convert on all of them, leaving points on the floor. They were up four, but it felt like it should have been 10 or more when Michigan State’s Max Christie converted a four-point play to tie it at 9:30.
The two teams continued to trade buckets most of the first half. The Wolverines went to Hunter Dickinson in the post, and MSU seemed content to let him operate 1-on-1. He scored 12 points in the paint in the first 16 minutes.
But Michigan State stayed in it with transition points and triples. They started 4-for-8 from long range and notched eight fast break points among their first 33. They took a 33-30 lead, their biggest of the half, to force a Michigan timeout.
Dickinson answered inside, but MSU countered with a Malik Hall triple. In a key sequence, Diabate missed a triple, but DeVante’ Jones stole the ball and finished and-one to cut it to 36-35 at 1:32.
A Tyson Walker triple made it 39-35 at the half.
MSU led by making 52 percent of its shots to Michigan’s 36 percent. The Wolverines had seven more opportunities due to nine offensive rebounds and outscored the Spartans 8-4 from the free throw line.
Michigan State also got 16 points from its bench to none for U-M in the first half.
Second half — Michigan goes cold, MSU pulls away
Michigan State started the second half on a 6-0 run. The Wolverines, meanwhile, couldn’t hit a shot. Diabate finally finished inside to cut a 45-35 deficit to eight points.
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The Wolverines made only one of their first nine looks to open the second half, continuing to play through Diabate in the post. The Spartans then started working the offensive glass for second chance opportunities. They had 11 second-chance points at 13:29 to 10 fast break points.
Michigan State opened a 53-38 lead while the Wolverines turned it over five times in the first nine minutes of the second half. Houstan finally ended the bleeding in transition with his first triple, but Michigan trailed 53-41 at the 10:45 mark.
The Wolverines left MSU’s Joey Hauser alone for a three out of the timeout, and the lead went back to 15. It was 16 when they left Hauser alone again in transition for a lay-up, 60-44, and it seemed all that was left was to run it out and hit the bus for the ride home.
But freshman Kobe Bufkin hit a triple and Dickinson started heating up. The Wolverines made a run, cutting it to 64-53 on a Dickinson three-point play.
MSU, though, scored the next eight, including triples by Brown and Hauser to push the lead to 17 at the five-minute mark. The Spartans continued to pour it on, finishing with 24 fast break points for the game and shooting 55.6 percent for the game.
Michigan shot only three for 19 from long range and 37.1 percent overall.
Dickinson led the Michigan scoring with 25 points, but made only eight of 19 shots. Diabate and Houstan added 11 for the Wolverines, who dropped to 4-4 in Big Ten play.
