Michigan State basketball's stifling defense takes down Oakland, 79-62, at Breslin Center

EAST LANSING — Tyson Walker became the 54th player to break 1,000 career points in a Michigan State basketball uniform.

The Spartans didn’t need many of them. Their defense again provided an overwhelming crush.

Two days after a top-10 win over Baylor, MSU this time bottled up Oakland from start to finish en route to a 79-62 victory Monday night at Breslin Center.

"I thought after a little bit of a slow start, we shot the ball pretty well. We got our break going off our defense, that stretch right before half," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "And then in the second half, Tyson kind of took over. ... But what we're starting to do is impose our defense."

Walker scored 12 of his 14 points after halftime, helping the Spartans (6-5) grow an eight-point halftime lead to as many as 27 points after intermission.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound native of Westbury, New York, became the 24th-fastest to reach 1,000 points as a Spartan, doing so in 80 games over the past three seasons. The fifth-year senior now has 1,681 points for his career, which began with two seasons at Northeastern.

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"It means a lot. It was definitely one of the things on my list when I was coming back," said Walker, who went 5-for-12 shooting and added five assists. "I talked to coach before the season, and I'm like, 'I'm close to 1,000 at MSU.' Now, it's to try to get 2,000 (career points). I'm on the way."

Jaden Akins and A.J. Hoggard each scored 11 points, with Hoggard adding seven assists and four rebounds. The Spartans had 23 assists on 29 made baskets, and Akins had three 3-pointers as MSU went 9-for-21 from 3-point range.

Carson Cooper and Mady Sissoko combined for an evenly distributed 14 points and 16 rebounds.

The Spartans (6-5) host Stony Brook on Thursday (6:30 p.m./BTN-Plus).

Trey Townsend had 17 points to lead Oakland (6-6), while former MSU guard Rocket Watts added 16 points and four rebounds. Blake Lampman added 12 points on four 3-pointers for the Golden Grizzlies, who shot just 36.5% overall and turned 16 offensive rebounds into only 11 second-chance points.

"I'm as disappointed as I've ever been coming out of this place," said Oakland coach Greg Kampe, who fell to 0-22 against Izzo and the Spartans since the in-state series began in 1998. "The first three to five minutes of the second half really angered me. It changed the game."

Do it with defense

The offensive rhythm and production MSU enjoyed in Saturday’s 88-64 blowout of now-No. 10 Baylor didn’t travel back from Detroit. A lot of that had to do with Oakland’s zone defense that slowed the Spartans in the half-court and prevented them from getting out and running.

But MSU’s defense it displayed against the Bears disrupted the Golden Grizzlies just as much. The Spartans held Oakland to 3-for-16 shooting to start the game and opened a 15-7 lead on a tip dunk by Cooper off a Tre Holloman miss with 10:59 left in the first half.

Lampman’s three first-half 3-pointers kept MSU from pulling away, including a pump-fake pull from the top of the key as the shot clock expired with 4:30 to go before halftime. The Golden Grizzlies pulled back within two points.

But the Spartans used their half-court defense to finally spark some transition momentum in the last 2-plus-minutes of the half.

A Cooper defensive board got the Spartans running, and Fears found Walker for a dipsy-doo, up-and-under, driving layup. The next time down, it was Fears grabbing a rebound and pushing again, finding Tre Holloman for another layup on the break. On Oakland's next possession, Cooper stripped Townsend in the paint, Walker collected the loose ball and flipped it downcourt for Akins and a breakaway dunk. MSU went into halftime up, 30-22, even though Walker only had those two points and missed his first three shots before the layup.

"I do think our defense has gotten better. And, so then, our offense gets better," Izzo said. "Definitely that stretch right before the half, I think we had three breakaway layups and dunks, all because of our defense and our rebounding."

It was a far cry from the near-perfection against Baylor. MSU went 12-for-32 but was just 2-for-10 from 3-point range. The Spartans had a 24-17 rebounding edge but gave up seven offensive boards. Cooper had six points and six rebounds, while Akins and Holloman each scored five.

Yet their defense smothered Oakland, holding them to 3-for-12 from deep and 29% overall in the half.

"Our defense gets our running game going," Izzo said. "This, for 28 years, has been 'Defend, Rebound and Run U.' ... Last couple of games, we're starting to put it together."

A grand performance

Walker caught fire out of the break. A set play off the second-half inbound play got him an open 3-pointer at the top of the key.

Sissoko continued his strong play with a pair of buckets, then Walker drilled a 3-pointer and got fouled to get the Breslin fans amped up. That sparked a 12-1 putaway run that included a ball fake, step-in jumper from the corner.

"We let Walker have a one-pass, wide-open 3 to start the second half," Kampe said. "Our team is based on our defense. That defense in the first half was phenomenal. ... We had a game plan to stop Walker. I didn't care what anybody else did, Walker was not gonna beat us."

Walker drilled another jumper from the other corner off a baseline out-of-bounds play with 8:24 left and got fouled by Oakland’s DQ Cole. He hit the free throw to get to 1,000 points as a Spartan.

"We just got to do a better job of (giving Walker) the ball when he's open because he's not gonna be open for that long. Teams are gonna key in on him," Hoggard said. "But just to see him still come out and be able to be himself with facing that adversity every night is definitely, definitely crazy."

Watts, in his second game at Breslin with the Grizzlies since leaving MSU after the 2020-21 season, had 10 second-half points on 4-for-5 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. Townsend had 12 of his points after half for Oakland, which plays Wednesday at Dayton (7 p.m./ESPN+).

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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Next up: Seawolves

Matchup: Michigan State (6-5) vs. Stony Brook (6-5).

Tipoff: 6:30 p.m. Thursday; Breslin Center, East Lansing.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network Plus (streaming only); WJR-AM (760).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball's stifling defense takes down Oakland, 79-62