Wisconsin was walking into a holiday house of horrors on Christmas morning in East Lansing. Michigan State had won the last 12 in a row at home against Wisconsin, but the history meant nothing to a team of five senior starters that never wavered.
After a topsy-turvy affair that included nine-point leads for either team in the second half, Wisconsin outlasted the Spartans and took home the 85-76 win to improve to 2-0 in the Big Ten.
“Christmas Aleem Ford” as he is now known was full of confidence through the first five minutes. The senior scored Wisconsin’s first seven points with a gorgeous drive, an in rhythm transition three, and a beautiful cut for a layup. It was back and forth for the rest of the half, with both teams at their best offensively.
Hot shooting kept Tom Izzo’s team close in the first half, as they went 4-4 from beyond the arc. A late Foster Loyer three capped off a high-scoring first 20 minutes that saw the game knotted at 42.
After the half, a Michigan state team coming off of an embarrassing loss at Northwestern earlier in the week responded with the energy of a kid waking up on Christmas morning. The first few minutes of the second saw them balloon their lead to nine with heightened defensive intensity.
Who did Wisconsin call upon to get back in it? It was D’Mitrik Trice time, and he delivered. The senior guard put Wisconsin on his back to will them into the game. 13 consecutive Wisconsin points scored by Trice cut the MSU lead from nine back down to one with just under 13 minutes to play.
From there, it was as back-and-forth as it had been all afternoon long. After a silent start, Nate Reuvers joined in on the holiday cheer scoring eight late points that included a tough turnaround jumper late. That fadeaway gave the Badgers a six-point lead with under three minutes left, and Wisconsin never looked back.
Trice finished with a game-high 29 points, but this was the type of Badger win, as many will likely be this season, where a game ball could go to any of the eight players who saw the floor. It was a true team win that highlighted the strengths of this squad: depth and experience. Down nine in the second half at Michigan State would have usually been an automatic loss, but this Badger team ended the streak and never even began to look like they were out of it.
Wisconsin improved to 8-1 and 2-0 in the Big Ten, with the Spartans dropping to 0-2 in the conference and 6-2 overall.