EAST LANSING – Phase II complete. Mojo re-established. Win on the road at Illinois, hold home-court advantage over Purdue.
The next one for No. 13 Michigan State basketball will be to reclaim first place in the Big Ten. In a rivalry game. On the road.
It was another balanced offensive attack for the Spartans, and No. 14 Purdue had few answers as MSU finished off a 75-66 victory at Breslin Center by hitting 68% of its shots from the field in the second half.
Jase Richardson led the Spartans with 12 points, Frankie Fidler had nine of his 11 points in the second half and Coen Carr and Jaden Akins each scored 10. Jaxon Kohler and Szymon Zapala had nine points apiece.
But equally as important were the 12 combined assists from Tre Holloman and Jeremy Fears Jr., part of 20 assists on 28 makes for MSU (20-5, 11-3). The two point guards also helped the Spartans break out with 21 fastbreak points, as their bench combined for 42 points.
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Holloman and Carson Cooper each scored seven in Tom Izzo’s first win over the Boilermakers since March 12, 2022, and just his team’s second in the last 11 meetings dating back to 2019.
The second-place Spartans make another quick turnaround and head to Ann Arbor to face league-leading Michigan at 8 p.m. Friday (Fox). The Wolverines (20-5, 12-2) won at Ohio State on Sunday but don’t play again until MSU visits Crisler Center.
Trey Kaufman-Renn had 24 points on 9-for-13 shooting for third-place Purdue (19-7, 11-4), while Braden Smith added 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds but committed six of his team’s 12 turnovers. MSU finished with 10 steals, its most in a Big Ten game this season.
Carr arrives on time
It is becoming commonplace. Yet when Coen Carr elevates, there still remains an audible gasp in and ensuing explosion when he brings the thunder. And MSU couldn’t have asked for a better time for a momentum-swinging dunk from the sophomore forward.
Purdue pulled to a 26-20 lead with 4:25 to play in the first half on Kaufman-Renn’s short turnaround jumper in the paint to give him eight points. Boilermakers coach Matt Painter promptly used a timeout after the bucket.
That proved ill-timed. The Spartans exited the timeout and blasted off a 10-0 run and seized the lead. Four free throws from Richardson and Carr pulled MSU within two, with Carr getting clobbered after a run-out following a Tre Holloman steal to prevent a dunk.
On the other end, Richardson plucked the ball away from Fletcher Loyer and beat the diving Purdue guard to it once it crossed half court. Carr took off running on the opposite wing, and Richardson somehow got enough handle to deliver an underhanded lob that hung in the air seemingly for 10 seconds. But Carr took flight, snagging the pass and throwing it down with two hands. Tie game.
Seconds later, Holloman lofted another alley-oop pass for a Szymon Zapala jam, followed by a Holloman steal and Kohler layup to force Painter to burn another timeout with 2:19 before half as MSU went ahead for good.
Late in the game, with MSU up nine points and trying to put the game away, another Carr alley-oop from Richardson finished off the Boilers.
Second-half momentum
The Spartans’ momentum from building a 33-31 halftime lead carried over out of the locker room to fully run the Boilermakers’ train of the tracks.
Fears emerged from the break with precision vision, connecting his assists to the first three baskets after halftime:
- The first, a bounce pass through traffic after Fears’ long rebound, set up Richardson for a run-out dunk in transition.
- The second, a whip-around from the top of the key to Kohler in the left corner, gave MSU its second 3-pointer of the game.
- The third capped an 8-0 burst out of the gate, ending with Zapala finishing in the paint through contact and converting the three-point play.
Fidler put together perhaps his best sequence in Big Ten play, starting with a 3-pointer and then getting a steal for a breakaway dunk. The senior transfer then plucked another steal and sent it out to Carr for a run-out up-and-under layup as Purdue’s defense retreated late.
MSU had four steals in the first 6:48 of the half and another Holloman-to-Cooper alley-oop built the lead to 13 with 12:29 left. But the Boilers fought back into it behind Kaufman-Renn, who made all six of his shots and had 16 points in the second half. His layup with 2:25 to play cut MSU’s lead to four.
Akins and Holloman, though, provided the winning plays late. Akins delivered first with a driving layup out of the corner and kiss off the glass, then by taking a charging foul at the other end on Purdue’s Cameron Heide with 1:54 to play. Then Hollloman attacked from the point down the right side of the lane with another acrobatic bank-shot layup with 1:29 remaining.
Akins would hit 4 of 6 free throws in the last 1:06, setting up a date with the Wolverines with first-place at stake.
Contact Chris Solari:[email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Spartans vs Wolverines
Matchup: No. 12 Michigan (20-5, 12-2 Big Ten) vs. No. 13 Michigan State (?20-5, 11-3).
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday; Crisler Center, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: Fox; WWJ-AM (950), WJR-AM (970).
