No. 8 Michigan State Holds on to Secure 81-74 Victory Over Rutgers at MSG
No matter the team, no matter the venue, No. 8 Michigan State men's basketball cannot be taken down right now.
The Spartans earned their 12th-straight win with an 81-74 victory against Rutgers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, extending their unblemished conference record to 8-0.
It was a career game for Michigan State freshman guard Jase Richardson, who turned in a career-high 20 points, shooting 6-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-4 from deep. He was one of three Spartans to score in double figures, the others having been sophomore forward Coen Carr with 14 and senior guard Jaden Akins with 12. Carr also added a team-high eight boards.
The Spartans outscored the Scarlet Knights in the post, recording 42 points in the paint compared to their 26, and also won the rebounding battle, 44-34.
Rutgers committed just six turnovers, compared to Michigan State's 15, 10 of which having come in the second half.
Even so, the Spartans never trailed in the second half and led for more than 33 of the game's 40 minutes.
Rutgers started off strong, quickly jumping out to a 10-3 with a 10-0 run.
But a converted and-1 from Carr would ignite a 16-1 run for Michigan State, which included 11 unanswered points for the Spartans. In that span, they held the Scarlet Knights scoreless for more than 4 minutes and without a field goal for almost 10 minutes.
Rutgers wouldn't go away, though, as the Scarlet Knights would put together a 5-0 run to trim the deficit to just 5 with roughly 6-and-a-half minutes to go in the half.
Michigan State would halt the run, though, with a converted and-1 from Jase Richardson.
But the Scarlet Knights kept at it, responding with another run, this time with 7 unanswered points, to make it just a 1-point game with less than 4 minutes to go before intermission.
Less than 2 minutes later, they tied it up.
With momentum completely on Rutgers' side, Michigan State would take it back with a play Spartan fans are all-too familiar with -- an alley-oop from redshirt freshman Jeremy Fears Jr. to Carr -- to retain the lead for Michigan State with just over a minute-and-a-half remaining in the half.
The Spartans would ultimately hold just a 3-point lead at the break. They held Rutgers to 31% from the field in the first half.
After finding itself up by just 2 early in the second half, Michigan State would generate a 6-0 run to go up 8, its largest lead since the 5:19 mark of the first half.
The Scarlet Knights would trim the deficit to 4 less than a minute later, but the Spartans pushed back with a 9-1 run that gave them a 12-point lead.
Just over a minute later, Carr would throw it down with a fastbreak jam, adding to the momentum Michigan State had built up for itself.
Less than a minute after that, the Spartans stretched their lead to 13, their largest of the contest, with a 3-pointer from Richardson.
Michigan State would hold a considerable lead almost all the way through the remainder of the contest, but a 3 from Rutgers junior forward Dylan Derkack would instill hope back into the Scarlet Knights, shaving the Spartans' advantage to just 8 with less than 2 minutes to go. He finished the contest with a game-high 26 points.
The Scarlet Knights immediately had a chance to build on the comeback attempt after getting a steal, but Fears would still it right back and found sophomore forward Xavier Booker for the fastbreak slam.
Rutgers continued to fight, as Derkack made another triple with just under half a minute to go, cutting the deficit to 6.
His final points would come too late, though, as the Spartans held on to attain the victory.
Michigan State will head back home, where it will host Minnesota on Tuesday.
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