Michigan State basketball's beautiful game dazzles Northwestern 78-68 in 9th straight win

Michigan State basketball’s beautiful game dazzles Northwestern 78-68 in 9th straight win

Posted by Admin January 12, 2025 Basketball

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EVANSTON, Ill. — Jeremy Fears Jr. saved the ball from going out of bounds, quickly gathered his balance and raced back onto the floor for a return pass to get Michigan State basketball running in transition.

Like a rocket, he slithered through Northwestern’s defense deep into the paint. As the Wildcats collapsed, he lofted a lob for Xavier Booker.

That play Sunday and Fears’ fortitude exemplified everything coach Tom Izzo talks about with wanting these Spartans to “be different.” From the rest of the pack in the Big Ten to the race for the national championship — but also from the past few years.

Another balanced effort led to another at-times dominating performance as No. 14 MSU took out the Wildcats, 78-68, at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The nine-game win streak for the Spartans (14-2, 5-0 Big Ten) is their longest since winning nine straight in 2021-22. The five-win start to conference play is MSU’s best since opening the 2018-19 Big Ten slate with nine straight victories en route to Izzo’s most recent Final Four appearance.

Jaden Akins scored 14 points and reached the 1,000-point mark for the Spartans, who host Penn State on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., BTN). Fears finished with 12 points and eight assists, while Jase Richardson had 13 points off the bench, as seven players scored seven or more points for MSU.

The Spartans had 18 assists on 27 made baskets.

Nick Martinelli had 27 points and Jalen Leach scored 17 for Northwestern (10-6, 1-4), which lost its third straight. The Wildcats went 5-for-25 from 3-point range and shot 35.6% overall.

Balancing act

Coming off an 88-54 blowout of Washington, MSU was looking to bottle that blistering offensive and defensive performance and take it on the road.

Unlike Thursday’s hot start, it took a little more than five minutes to get things rolling. But when it did, Izzo’s squad looked unstoppable.

Fears and Akins each hit 3-pointers to get things started and give the Spartans their first lead. After Martinelli drained a 3 to shift it back in Northwestern’s favor, Richardson converted a three-point play to start a 14-0 MSU run over the next 5:43 to pull away. And the way MSU went about dissecting Northwestern came in a variety of ways.

All 10 Spartans who saw first-half action scored at least two points, nine grabbed at least one rebound and six had at least one assist. Richardson had 10 points at the break and Akins had eight. Fears dished six assists and big man Jaxon Kohler tied his career high by halftime with four assists.

The Spartans led by as many as 23 and closed the half outscoring the Wildcats 33-12 over the final 13:12. Its defense held Northwestern’ Brooks Barnhizer scoreless in the first half and without a bucket until 13:57 to play. The 6-6 senior, who entered averaging 19.3 points a game, finished with four points on 2-for-13 shooting.

MSU shot a scorching 62.1% and went 4-for-6 from deep. Northwestern finished the half 4-for-15 from deep and shot just 32.3% at the break, with Martinelli going 5-for-11 for 13 points and the rest of his teammates combining to go 5-for 20.

Work to be done

The Spartans struggled to maintain that dialed-in approach in the second half, giving Izzo plenty to harp about moving forward.

After committing just three first-half turnovers, MSU had eight in the second half and committed 14 fouls, as the Wildcats used that in an attempt to stop the clock and lengthen the game. Northwestern went 17-for-22 at the foul line in the second half.

Coach Chris Collins’ strategy got within proximity and shrunk the Spartans’ lead to 13 by the middle of the second half, and the Wildcats pulled within 11 with 3:07 to play thanks to a 10-1 surge.

Richardson’s layup quelled that run, but four free throws from Leach and Martinelli cut it back to a single-digit score with inside a minute to play. But Akins hit a pair of free throws with 27.6 ticks left to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for his career and help MSU escape with a third Big Ten road win of the season.

MSU finished with a 37-30 edge in rebounding and a 36-26 scoring advantage in the paint, despite giving up 14 offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points. The Spartans’ bench outscored Northwestern’s reserves, 29-12.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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