EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State was surely battling its emotions when it took the court Tuesday night against Indiana, the first game at the Breslin Center since last week’s mass shooting that took the lives of three students and injured five others.
What the Spartans were also fighting was an inept offense, one that couldn’t get anything going against the 17th-ranked Hoosiers.
But with just six minutes left in the first half, Tyson Walker started to heat up, igniting a run from Michigan State that Indiana could never truly stop as the Spartans stormed back and pulled away in the second half for an 80-65 victory.
Walker was nearly unstoppable, some cramping in his leg in the second half the only thing that slowed the senior guard. He finished with 23 points and was 5-for-7 from 3-point range to lead the Spartans (17-10, 9-7 Big Ten).
A.J. Hoggard overcame a slow start to score 22 and hand out five assists while Joey Hauser and Malik Hall each scored 10 with Hauser grabbing eight rebounds.
Indiana (19-9, 10-7) was effective early but could never get over the hump in the second half. Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 19 and grabbed seven rebounds for the Hoosiers while Jalen Hood-Schifino scored 16 and Trey Galloway chipped in 11 points.
For about the first 14 minutes of game action, Michigan State’s offense was a mess. The Spartans had turned the ball over six times, were 5-for-17 from the floor and just 1-for-7 from 3-point range. On the other end, Jackson-Davis and the Hoosiers were getting just about anything they wanted as Michigan State’s double-teams on the Indiana big man often led to open looks from the perimeter or quick buckets for Jackson-Davis.
But when Walker buried his first 3-pointer with just more than six minutes to play in the half, it sparked something in Michigan State’s offense and led to a 22-7 surge to close the half and turn a nine-point Indiana lead into a six-point advantage for the Spartans at halftime.
Walker made four 3-pointers in the final six-plus minutes, hitting tow in a row in between two free throws from Hall and Hauser, who brought Michigan State within one at 27-26. On the Spartans’ next possession, Jaxon Kohler spun Jackson-Davis in circles and scored on a layup to give Michigan State its first lead.
Hoggard then scored on a layup in transition, and a Jackson-Davis layup, Kohler scored on a putback before Walker’s fourth triple went down, giving Michigan State a 35-29 lead headed to the halftime locker room.
Michigan State came out of the locker room firing, hitting four straight 3-pointers from four different players, all part of a stretch that saw the Spartans make eight shots in a row and take their biggest lead at 53-39 with 15:18 to play after a pair of free throws from Hall.
Indiana battled back, though, answering with a 9-0 run to pull within 53-48 before Walker ended the run with a jumper at the end of the shot clock to give Michigan State a 55-48 lead with 11:30 left in the game. The Spartans responded with a pair of buckets from Hoggard and two more free throws from Hall to push the lead to 61-48 with 8:24 to play.
The Hoosiers kept it within reach, but a pair of free throws from Walker and then a Hoosiers turnover had the Spartans up, 70-59, with 3:57 left in the game.
The lead grew from there as Michigan State cruised over the final minutes.
