EAST LANSING — Welcome to the Big Ten, Washington.
Michigan State basketball rolled out the red carpet Tom Izzo-style, with one of the most concise displays of his principles of basketball, looking every bit like the Izzone alumni in the stands remembered.
A defense that smothered from the outset. An offense that ran in transition and elevated the electricity. Rebounding in punishing fashion.
In short, a physical assertion of everything No. 14 MSU has been about for three decades, and a completely possessed performance obsessed with the details — a swagger-flashing, muscle-flexing, all-around 88-54 domination of the Huskies on Thursday night.
ON THE GRIDIRON: Michigan State football lands Division II transfer WR Rodney Bullard from Valdosta State
The Spartans (13-2, 4-0 Big Ten) won their eighth straight game and held Washington (10- 6, 1-4) without a field goal for more than 10 minutes to open the game and then scoreless for another nine-plus minute stretch after an early free throw. Their lead grew to as many as 29 points by halftime thanks to continued well-rounded scoring and smothering team defense, moving Izzo to 347 victories in Big Ten play, second-most all-time and six behind Bob Knight’s record 353 at Indiana.
Jaden Akins led the Spartans with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, with Jase Richardson and Jeremy Fears Jr. each adding 12 points and Tre Holloman scoring 11. Fears also had 10 assists for the first double-double of his career. They shot a sizzling sizzling 52.5% and had all 10 regulars score; 12 of the 13 players in green and white who stepped on the court grabbed at least one rebound.
MSU travels to Northwestern for its third road game of the conference season. Tipoff is noon Sunday (Fox) at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois.
Tyler Harris had 14 points for for the Huskies (10-5, 1-3), who shot just 32.7% and committed 15 turnovers. MSU held leading scorer and rebounder Great Osobor to just six points on 0-for-8 shooting with just four rebounds as the Huskies were outrebounded, 40-30.
Huskies just dog-gone confounded
Everything the Spartans showed in the first 20 minutes is everything Izzo has demanded from his teams for 30 years. So much of it that the game felt in the win column in the first seven minutes.
Nothing Washington could do went right, including, at one point, Washington’s “Zoom” Diallo slamming into teammate Mekhi Mason at the top of the key on offense with no MSU player within 2 feet of the collision. Huskies first-year coach Danny Sprinkle spun toward his bench and shook his head in frustration and disgust.
After Osobor’s free throw opened the scoring, MSU ripped off the next 16 points, starting with a Fears 3-pointer and another by Akins.
And the rout was on.
The Huskes went scoreless for 9:10 and 10:27 in all without a field goal. From 16-1, when Washington finally hit a basket and scored three straight points, the Spartans pushed it to 29-8 thanks to a strong stretch that included contributions from two fairly forgotten faces — a 3-pointer from struggling Frankie Fidler and strong defense and four free throws from Carson Cooper.
By halftime, things started to get really out of hand.
MSU danced and smiled its way into the locker room with a 42-13 cushion by holding the Huskies to 5-for-29 shooting and without a 3-pointer in nine attempts. The Spartans turned eight Washington turnovers into nine points and had a 25-19 rebounding edge, as well as a 20-10 scoring edge in the paint while shooting 45.2%.
A green-and-white party
Perhaps most importantly was the confidence with which MSU played. It was a bravado his best teams showed in abundance and something that has been lacking in recent years, maybe longer.
Fears got in the head of Washington’s young point guard, with a dose of trash-talking and watching the Huskies freshman in foul trouble. In doing so, that allowed the Spartans’ redshirt freshman to dictate the tone of the toughness and the pace of play all night.
Coen Carr shook off a hard foul that prevented him launching for a dunk in transition early in the first half, nearly getting tackled, only to pogo-stick and hammer one down in transition after a poke-away steal by Booker and feed from Richardson.
Richardson continued to show moxie beyond his freshman year, with his father Jason in the stands seeing a slaughtering not unlike his 2000 national championship team’s 114-63 blowout nearly 25 years ago on the same court.
Everyone took a turn going on runs, including Holloman, who also had six assists, while Jaxon Kohler had six points, seven rebounds and four of MSU’s 24 assists. Cooper finished with six points and seven boards, while Carr grabbed five
Even Nick Sanders gave the alumni in the Izzone one more thing to get loud about before their belated bedtime, sinking a jumper to seal it with a minute to play, a thorough thrashing complete.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball wallops Washington, 88-54, at Breslin Center
