Five Observations: No. 10 Michigan State dominates rival Michigan at the Breslin

The Spartans improve to 7-2 in Big Ten play with a big home win over the Wolverines

With an impenetrable defense and efficiency on offense, Michigan State used a big second half to dominate rival Michigan in an 83-67 victory for the Spartans.

Leading by four at halftime, Michigan State scored the first six points of second half to stretch their lead to 45-35. The Spartans' excellent defense held Michigan scoreless for the first three and a half minutes of the second frame, despite several offensive rebounds by the Wolverines.

That set the tone for Michigan State, as they outscored Michigan 14-6 in the first nine minutes of the second half to increase their lead to 53-41. The Spartans defense was relentless, forcing five Wolverines turnovers and a 1-of-10 shooting effort for Michigan to start the half.

The Wolverines had no answer offensively or defensively. Michigan State's lead grew to as many as 20 — 78-58 with three minutes to play. The Spartans outscored Michigan 44-32 after halftime.

This came after a back-and-forth affair in the first half. Michigan's largest lead was six points (14-8 at the 14:29 mark), while the Spartans' largest lead came at the halftime break, 39-35. The opening 20 minutes featured seven ties and seven lead changes. But, it was all Michigan State in the final 20 minutes

1. Max Christie, Malik Hall pace MSU offense

Max Christie carried the Spartans through the first 14 minutes of play, scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Then, when the freshman took a breather, Malik Hall came off the bench and gave Michigan State a big boost in the first half. Hall scored 11 points and was 2-for-2 from three point range in the opening 20 minutes.

Christie finished the day with an impactful 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, with three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a blocked shot. Hall, meanwhile, finished with 15 points on a 5-of-12 effort, with six rebounds and three steals. These two guys paced an efficient offensive effort for the Spartans, who shot 55.4 percent from the floor and 9-of-18 from the three-point line. Impressive effort on offense for Michigan State.

2. Spartans overcome turnovers, offensive rebounds

It was a familiar story for the Spartans in these two areas, as Michigan State turned the ball over nine times and allowed nine offensive rebounds in the first half. In the second half, the Spartans cleaned things up a bit. They had only four turnovers, but still allowed seven more offensive rebounds for Michigan. Yet, despite a total of 13 turnovers and 16 offensive rebounds allowed, Michigan State did an excellent job defending after those plays happened. The Wolverines finished with only 13 points off turnovers and 10 second-chance points. Which leads to our next observation...

3. Marcus Bingham anchors MSU defense

Michigan State played outstanding defensively, as they have for most of this season. Despite the turnovers and second-chance opportunities allowed, the Spartans held Michigan to 37 percent shooting overall and a 3-of-19 effort from the three-point line. It was a rotational effort defending Michigan center Hunter Dickinson, who finished with 25 points but needed 19 shot attempts to get there (8-for-19). Marcus Bingham Jr. only scored four points on Saturday, but made a huge impact defensively with eight rebounds, four blocks and two steals. In all, the Spartans finished with six blocks and nine steals as a team.

4. Michigan State's depth on display

Michigan State proved themselves the deeper team, the tougher team and the better team with its second half performance on Saturday. In addition to the players mentioned above, several other guys had memorable performances. Joey Hauser was fantastic with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 2-for-3 from deep. AJ Hoggard was a bulldog on both ends of the floor. The sophomore had a double-double with 11 points, 10 assists, two rebounds a steal and a block. He shot 4-of-6 from the floor and had only one turnover. Gabe Brown came alive after a scoreless first half to finish with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting, adding four rebounds, an assist and a steal. Michigan State's bench outscored the Wolverines' bench a lopsided 33-6 for the game. This was a total team victory for the Spartans.

5. Spartans keep pace in Big Ten standings

With Saturday's victory, Michigan State kept pace with Wisconsin and Illinois on top of the Big Ten standings at 7-2 in league play. The Spartans will hit the road again this week with trips to Maryland (Feb. 2) and Rutgers (Feb. 5) before returning home for a rematch with the No. 11 Badgers at the Breslin Center. As we near the midway point of the Big Ten season, Michigan State is right where it wants to be and has as good a chance as anyone to hoist the Big Ten Conference crown in 2021-22.