EAST LANSING – Michigan State basketball extended their winning streak to three with a 99-55 win over Stony Brook on Thursday evening. MSU’s 99 points was a season-high, and the most since recording 106 points in a loss against Iowa.
“The last game before Christmas and the first game after Christmas is when most upsets happen,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “Last night I texted A.J. about some team that got upset and his text back was ‘Don’t worry, I’m ready to play.’”
The first half opened up with senior guard A.J. Hoggard and junior guard Jaden Akins leading the Spartans with 21 points combined. Stony Brook couldn’t contain the MSU offense and started to fall behind quickly, with no answer in sight.
The Seawolves trailed by as much as 36 points in the first half, including a scoring drought that lasted over six minutes. The Spartans were led in points by graduate guard Tyson Walker and Akins with 13 points each.
After halftime, Stony Brook needed points and tried to find an answer to the explosive Spartan offense. The Seawolves came out to the second half with a dunk from graduate forward Chris Maidoh to try to ignite some momentum.
The Seawolves started to hit some shots that weren’t there in the first half, forcing the Spartans’ defense to readjust. Izzo felt rebounding was a negative during the second half.
“I am concerned about our rebounding,” Izzo said. “We’re not only not rebounding great, we’re not getting a lot of clean rebounds.
However, MSU outlasted Stony Brook and settled for a 44-point victory. In a complete team effort, there were many individual accolades to go around.
MSU finished with 33 assists on 38 baskets, with freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and A.J. Hoggard recording ten assists each. This propelled Fears Jr. to set a new career high in assists.
Akins was a bright spot for MSU, setting a new career-high of 22 points, but he wasn’t the only one who set a new career-high in points. Freshman forward Xavier Booker added 11 points and 7 rebounds and played 16 minutes.
“Him coming in and hitting shots and doing the things that we know he can that the outside world is eager to see is just fulfilling,” Hoggard said. “We’re all pulling for one another and we’re all excited when another scores and makes a good play. That’s just the type of team we are.”
In the last two minutes, sophomore guard Nick Sanders sank a three-pointer with an assist from graduate guard Steven Izzo. The three marked his first-ever collegiate basket, as the Breslin Center crowd gave him big applause.
“Before he got into the game, I told him you gotta get one up,” Walker said. “When he caught it, I was yelling to shoot it and he shot it.”
Up next after the holiday break, MSU will host Indiana State on Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. ET.
