EAST LANSING, MICH. — Michigan got off to a great start, scoring the first five points and 12 in the first four minutes, but MSU owned the second half to beat U-M for the second time this year, 75-63.
U-M was denied a Big Ten title with the loss and will be the Big Ten Tournament No. 3 seed, playing next Friday night in Chicago.
Sophomore Jordan Poole and freshman Ignas Brazdeikis each hit triples early on their way to five points each before the first TV timeout, but Michigan junior big man Jon Teske went to the bench with his first foul only three minutes into the game.
Brazdeikis continued to tear it up early. He drove and scored and followed with a transition triple from NBA range to put the Wolverines up 17-7. He ended a 5-0 MSU run with a runner from the left side, finishing off the high glass.
Poole made another triple to increase the lead to 22-14, but Brazdeikis picked up his second foul on a Cassius Winston drive and went to the bench. U-M had picked up six fouls to MSU’s two at that point.
Isaiah Livers also went to the bench with his second foul. MSU went to the bonus at 7:49 on a chippy foul call on freshman replacement Brandon Johns, but stayed ahead on a rare Eli Brooks triple and a transition finish by frosh David DeJulius.
U-M was called for its eighth foul of the half when MSU frosh Foster Loyer fell down; he made both free throws to cut the lead to six.
Teske responded with a jumper and Simpson a drive and finish to push the lead back to 10. U-M had all the momentum when Winston went to the bench with his second foul. Michigan’s lineup with Brazdeikis out included little used frosh Johns, who didn’t score in 10 minutes.
The lead expanded to a game high 12 on a Simpson runner, but the Spartans closed the half on a 6-0 run. The Wolverines went the last 3:12 without scoring.
Brazdeikis led U-M with 12 points in only nine minutes, going 5-for-5 from the floor in the half. Poole added 10 points, while Simpson notched six points and five assists.
SECOND HALF
Teske helped Michigan keep pace in the first four minutes of the half, tipping in a pair of misses, but the Wolverines remained cold from the floor. The Wolverines were one of their last seven from the floor at the first TV timeout, still up by four only because the Spartans had missed their last four shots.
U-M finally got it working on offense. Brazdeikis hit a jumper and frosh Colin Castleton took it inside and scored to push the lead back to eight.
The Spartans made another run. They cut it to two when Goins hit a wide-open triple on the heels of a McQuaid three. They tied it at 10:47 on a pair of Xavier Tillman free throws, the first time it had been even since the first minute.
Winston then followed a Teske airball with an accidental banked triple to give MSU its first lead.
The Spartans started to take control. They expanded the lead to 57-52, and U-M was in trouble when Simpson missed a layup on one end and Winston scored on the other to push it to 59-52 and force a Michigan timeout.
U-M did not have a second half assist at the 7:45 minute mark of the stanza, the ball sticking on offense.
Teske seemed to have an and-one finish at 7:25, but he was inexplicably called for traveling, turning the ball back over to the Spartans, and things got worse. Brazdeikis was called for his fourth foul at 6:42, and the Spartans soon went up 13. They were 10-for-10 in a 20-2 stretch to the Wolverines’ 0-for-9.
Brazdeikis ended the drought with a free throw but fouled out at 5:10 going after a rebound.
Poole finally tripled at 5:00 to cut it to 10, but the Spartans were in total control. They closed out a 75-63 victory at the line.
Brazdeikis finished with 20 and Poole notched 15, but the Wolverines were out rebounded 46 to 20 and finished with only two, second half assists.
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