Malik Hall ties career high as Michigan State basketball rolls over Penn State, 92-61
EAST LANSING — The defense and transition game Tom Izzo saw Michigan State basketball begin to discover last month after opening with a pair of Big Ten losses carried over into the new year.
Penn State happened to be in the way of the buzzsaw.
The Spartans used a smothering defensive performance and turned up the tempo for their first conference win, running away from the Nittany Lions early for a 92-61 victory Thursday night at Breslin Center.
It was the fifth straight win for MSU (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten), which has not lost since falling at home to Wisconsin and at Nebraska in early December to open conference play.
Malik Hall tied his career high with 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting, adding five rebounds and four assists. Tyson Walker turned in an artful two-way performance, finishing with 22 points while tying a career high with six steals and adding five assists. Mady Sissoko equaled his career-best with 12 rebounds, eight of those coming in the second half.
Penn State finished shooting just 32.3% overall and went just 3-for-29 from 3-point range. The Spartans turned 16 Nittany Lions turnovers into 24 points, outscored PSU in the paint, 42-32, and MSU posted 20 fast-break points.
The Spartans the road for its next two games, starting Sunday at Northwestern (10-3, 1-1). Tipoff at Welsh-Ryan Arena is 7 p.m. (BTN).
Kanye Clark scored 21 points to lead Penn State (7-7, 1-2), which won two straight entering Thursday and beat Ohio State last month. Qudus Wahab added eight points and eight rebounds, while Nick Kern Jr. scored 10 for the Nittany Lions.
Sticky fingers
Izzo continues to demand his team defend, rebound and run more frequently. He got that in abundance in a dominant first half.
Hall did it on the offensive end early and often, scoring nine of the Spartans’ first 14 points and making some deft passes in the process. His 3-pointer with 15:07 left, followed by a Tre Holloman layup, pushed MSU’s lead to 10 less than 6 minutes into the game.
From there, it was the Spartans’ defense taking over.
After a three-point play by Kern pulled PSU back within 18-12, MSU started to manhandle the Nittany Lions, who managed just one field goal over the next 7:49. In the process, the Spartans also had a stretch with its defense forcing seven steals in a 4:02 span. MSU finished with 11 steals by halftime, turning 14 Penn State turnovers into 20 points. The Spartans finished the game with 13 steals.
Walker had 13 points, six steals and five assists in the opening half. Hall hit all six of his shots for 15 as the Spartans built a commanding 51-26 lead. It was the first time the Spartans scored 50 points in a first half against a Big Ten opponent since posting 52 against Northwestern on Jan. 2, 2019.
MSU flashed high-level ball distribution along the way, getting 17 assists on 20 made baskets in the first half. Holloman had five assists with his eight points, and Akins handed out four despite going scoreless.
Work ahead
Still, there are things Izzo won’t be happy with despite another overwhelming start — which had been an issue early in the season.
The Nittany Lions grabbed eight of their 17 first-half rebounds on the offensive glass. They continued to assert themselves on the offensive boards after halftime, finishing with 14 for the game. But MSU also started boxing out better and crashing its own glass harder in the final 20 minutes and finished with a 40-36 overall rebounding advantage.
Penn State had a 10-2 run midway through the second half to pull back within 20, much of that coming with Xavier Booker on the court. The freshman forward got extensive run to prepare him for Big Ten competition and picked up four fouls, including a flagrant-1, while scoring five points with three rebounds in 14 minutes. Booker was a minus-4 for the game while on the floor.
Jaxon Kohler did not play but was in uniform. Izzo said before the game on his pregame radio show that he expects to get the sophomore forward back on the court back next week, though it will take some time to get him acclimated to playing again after having his left foot operated on in October.
Akins’ slow start also was a concern, and he did not grab a rebound until the game was in hand with 3:49 to play. The junior guard, whose production progressively improved during December, finished 3-for-8 shooting and hit 2 of 5 from 3-point range in scoring all of his 10 points after halftime.
Izzo also kept Hoggard on the bench for long stretches of the first half, giving him just 8:36 of court time — which makes the Spartans’ assist ratio in the first half even more impressive. The senior finished with 10 points and had three of his four assists in the second half, but he also committed four of the Spartans' 12 turnovers.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Malik Hall, Michigan State basketball rolls over Penn State, 92-61
