Michigan State hands Indiana its third-straight loss in 76-61 victory

The Michigan State’s men’s basketball team took on Big Ten foe Indiana on Saturday afternoon at the Breslin Center.

The Spartans came away with a 76-61 win, and the Hoosiers dropped a third-straight game. The officiating was whistle-happy in this game, with no shortage of fouls being called, but Michigan State hit 25 of its 28 free throws (89 percent), while Indiana made just 16 of its 27 attempts from the charity stripe (59 percent).

As per usual, turnovers pained the Spartans in the first half with eight compared to just five by Indiana. Despite holding the 37-30 lead at halftime, MSU trailed Indiana by 13 attempts in shots after 20 minutes of play. The second half was a different story.

Indiana had struggles of its own: bad possessions. Too often, the Hoosiers were settling for tough shots, opening up at 3-for-4 in field goals, but making just three of its next 20 attempts.

Despite Michigan State’s 37-30 lead at the half, Indiana opened the second half with an 8-0 run before Michigan State was forced into a timeout. After that, Indiana ran out of steam. Midway through the second half, the Spartans opened up a 11-1 run with Tyson Walker responsible for seven of the points.

A.J. Hoggard started over Walker at the point guard position and he produced, looking confident while having 14 points, eight assists and four rebounds. With four minutes to go, Hoggard ended up getting tossed for taunting. It was his second technical foul of the game. Not to be outdone, Walker had a strong game off of the bench with 15 points. Tom Izzo’s switch at the position seemed to do wonders for both players’ confidence.

It was a much-needed win for Michigan State after tough losses to Rutgers and to Wisconsin. Malik Hall led MSU in points with 18 off off of the bench (18). MSU’s bench had 44 points, accounting for 58 percent of its total offense. Indiana scored just 20 bench points.

Michigan State shot 22-for-51 from the field overall (43 percent) and 7-for-20 from three-point range (35 percent). Meanwhile, Indiana shot 20-for-59 (34 percent) and just 5-for-21 from deep (24 percent). MSU out-rebounded IU by a tally of 39-34. The final turnover count was 15 by the Spartans and 11 for the Hoosiers.

Michigan State has improved its record to 18-6 overall and 9-4 in the Big Ten, while Indiana falls to 16-8 and 7-7 in the Big Ten. MSU will travel take on Penn State on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time before then facing Illinois at home next weekend. Illinois currently leads the Big Ten.

MSU’s game against Penn State will air on Big Ten Network.