[jwplayer mSDA56Ej-PROpJzTY]
Michigan State Basketball needed to beat Nebraska and Penn State to start momentum towards revitalizing this season, and, while it wasn’t easy, that has now happened. The Spartans held on to beat Penn State 60-58 on Tuesday night behind a stellar 20-point game from Aaron Henry.
The Spartans were up 32-24 heading into the half but the Nittany Lions stormed back in the second half, outscoring MSU 34-28 in the second period. However, MSU held on and closed the game out on a 6-0 run to finally string together a few wins in conference play.
Tom Izzo made a few interesting lineup tweaks today that seemed to pay off. Izzo started a front court of Marcus Bingham and Malik Hall instead of Thomas Kithier and Joey Hauser. Bingham started last game against Nebraska and looked good so that wasn’t a surprise, but Hauser sitting for Hall was a gamble that paid off.
After having probably his worst career high game against Nebraska, Hauser scored 11 points tonight and had 3 assists, 2 rebounds and a steal off the bench. Malik Hall had 10 points, 5 boards an assist and a steal as a starter and looked great. Bingham also had a great night with 6 points, 9 rebounds, a steal and a block and played with a lot of fire tonight.
Izzo also started Foster Loyer tonight as he continues to try and solve his point guard issues. Loyer was scoreless and looked helpless on defense at times, but Rocket Watts and AJ Hoggard didn’t play that well either. Watts scored 4 points off the bench and Hoggard was held scoreless.
Also of note in this game: Joshua Langford became the fourth recruit from Michigan State’s 2016 class to score 1,000 career points. He finished with 5 points, 3 rebounds and an assist.
The Spartans will get a huge opportunity to re-establish themselves in the Big Ten and extend their win streak to 3 games when they host Iowa this Saturday.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]