Michigan State opens NCAA Tournament with 'old-school win' over Mississippi State

Charlotte, N.C. — Tom Izzo has been grappling for months about the untapped potential of this season’s Michigan State team.

On Thursday, the Spartans might’ve finally found something. 

Ninth-seeded Michigan State took down eighth-seeded Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and delivered a season-ending 69-51 blow to the Bulldogs.

Izzo described Thursday's game as "an old-school win for us" — one that would make Spartan greats like Mateen Cleaves and Draymond Green proud. Michigan State outrebounded Mississippi State by six and the game featured a litany of hustle plays, from Jaden Akins chasing down Josh Hubbard for a block on his fast-break layup attempt to the Tyson Walker swooping in to steal the ball under the basket from KeShawn Murphy to give Michigan State a second-chance opportunity.

"It was a tough, rugged game," Izzo said, "and we haven't been bringing that all the time this year, and I thought we did a helluva job."

It wasn’t always pretty. Michigan State had nine turnovers in the first half and 16 on the day — A.J. Hoggard was guilty of five of them. The mistakes were in part a result of the way Mississippi State used its length to disrupt passing lanes and force the Spartans into tough situations. 

But Michigan State (20-14) never relented, dove after loose balls and played staunch defense, which led to a decisive win. 

BOX SCORE: Michigan State 69, Mississippi State 51

“That’s a good basketball team that I thought we made look not as good," Izzo said. "And that’s what happens when you play defense and rebound."

Walker, who gave an emotional speech before heading to Charlotte this week about not wanting this season — his fifth in college basketball — to end, said he won't be taking any of his remaining time left in a Spartan uniform for granted. He once again led Michigan State with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting and had three steals before finishing a team-best plus-21. 

But it wasn’t just Walker who shined on Michigan State’s biggest stage yet. Akins rediscovered his stroke and had several energy-sparking plays, including a dunk over Hubbard in the second half. Meanwhile, Hoggard set the tone early with his intensity and had eight points and eight assists.

Izzo always said Michigan State would only go as far as its guard trio would take it. On Thursday, those three were all on the same page.

“They make my job a lot easier when they’re making shots like that," Hoggard said of Walker and Akins. "I can get downhill and make plays for them as well. When we’re all clicking like that, it’s definitely tough to beat, it’s definitely tough to guard. So when their confidence is at an all-time high like that and they’re seeing shots go in, I mean we would have to lose the game for ourselves because I just feel like we have the staff, we have the confidence. When those guys are going and everybody’s clicking, it’s definitely easy for us to go out there and win games.”

In the second half, Hoggard fed Akins on the left wing and yelled at him to “shoot it.” Akins let it rip, but was off the mark. Murphy snatched the rebound — or so he thought. In a blink of an eye, Walker swooped in, stole the ball and gave it back to Hoggard. Again, the point guard found Akins in the same spot. The second time, Akins didn’t miss putting Michigan State up 63-47 with seven minutes to go. 

Akins, feeling fired up, nodded his head and clapped at a section of admirers before rejoining his team in the huddle. 

Minutes later, Walker, on an inbound pass, darted for the right corner and drilled a 3-pointer to give Michigan State a 17-point advantage with under five minutes to go. 

“We didn’t want to go home," said Akins, who finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, a steal and a block. "It’s March, so it’s one and done time. We knew we didn’t want to go home so we just had to play as hard as we could.”

Mississippi State (21-14) is an athletic and long team that's comparable to Illinois. The Spartans knew heading into Thursday that it'd be a physical battle.

Michigan State was in attack mode from the jump.  Akins' 3 opened the game. Moments later, Walker made a layup to give the Spartans an early 5-0 lead. 

Before you knew it, the Spartans were up 18-8 after Walker knocked in back-to-back 3s that forced Mississippi State coach Chris Jans to call a timeout at the 12:16 mark. 

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Michigan State started to get a little out of sorts, with Mississippi State using its length to disrupt passing lanes. A Tre Holloman lob to Coen Carr for a rim-rattling dunk that would’ve fired up the Spartans sailed over Carr’s fingertips. It was the second of five turnovers in a three-minute span for Michigan State that allowed Mississippi State to work its way back in. 

The Bulldogs trimmed Michigan State’s lead from 12 to seven during that stretch. Hubbard started to heat up, which could’ve been trouble for the Spartans. The explosive freshman scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half on 5-for-9 shooting (including 3 of 5 from deep).

Hoggard started the game strong, but had a bad finish to the half. He airballed a long 3 at the end of a shot clock and then lost Hubbard, who made a 3 to cut Michigan State’s lead to 29-24 with 31 seconds left. 

Izzo used a timeout to draw up the final play of the half. With Walker being hounded, Malik Hall had the ball as time wound down, drove to the basket and made a mid-air adjustment before sinking in a buzz-beating basket to put Michigan State up 31-24 at halftime.

“We did a good job of bouncing back from that little slump a couple of sessions in the first half a little bit to start in the second half," Hoggard said. "So I think we did a good job of rallying around that and finishing out the game.”

The Bulldogs trimmed the Spartans' lead down to six early in the second half, but that was the closest they would get. Michigan State ran the floor toward the end. Hubbard had a chance to spark some life with a steal and breakaway layup, but Akins refused to let that happen as he sprinted after him and blocked him at the rim. Akins inadvertently elbowed Hubbard's head as the momentum of the play brought two to the ground. Hubbard momentarily left the game and was examined by a team trainer before re-entering the game. He never got going, which was good news for the Spartans.

Mississippi State is one of the best 3-point defending teams in the country, but the Spartans managed to convert on 10 of their 23 attempts from deep, with Walker and Akins knocking down three each.

“We played much better today than we’ve been playing," Izzo said. "And I think it is because we got all three of those guys (Walker, Akins and Hoggard) doing what they can do, not doing anything extra.

"It’s been frustrating…but I am proud of them and cream rises to the top at big moments, and that says a lot.” 

Michigan State survived and thrived in its first game at the Spectrum Center, which made Izzo feel vindicated for the belief he continues to hold for this team's potential.

"That’s why every press conference I kept saying I think we’re good enough to go on some kind of run," Izzo said.

One game is by no means “a run.” But it could be the start of one.

The Spartans will have a day to regroup before playing No. 1 North Carolina, a 90-62 winner over No. 16 Wagner, on Saturday. 

mkenney@detroitnews.com

@madkenney