EAST LANSING- Michigan State men’s basketball (3-1) hosted the Samford Bulldogs (4-1) on Tuesday night in a critical final home game before the Maui Invitational.

MSU relied on its senior guard Jaden Akins, who scored a career-high 25 points on 67.5% shooting to propel the Spartans to an 83-75 victory. 

“His confidence is there, of all the guys I have, there is no one who works harder,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said postgame.

In the first half, the Bulldogs came out in control while also limiting the Spartans’ offense. Samford ran a 3-2 extended zone defense and a man-to-man full-court press all 40 minutes, something MSU hasn’t seen much of this season.

“There was a lot of stuff we haven’t seen all year that we saw tonight. They did a really good job throwing things at us that we haven’t seen all year,” Izzo said.

The Bulldogs forced MSU into seven first-half turnovers, as defense turned into offense the Bulldogs saw an early 21-8 lead with 10:04 left in the first half. 

The Spartans were getting open shots from Samford’s zone defense but the three-point struggles for MSU this season showed in the first half, as the Spartans shot 3-13 from beyond the arc. 

Samford’s junior forward Jaden Brownell and senior forward Collin Holloway would combine for 33 points in the game to keep the Bulldogs and Spartans close throughout the first half.

A flip would switch for MSU as Akins would go on a solo five-point run, igniting the Spartans to get hot from the field making four field goals in a row with four minutes left in the first half. MSU would gain a 10-point lead heading into halftime behind a 13-point Akins first half. 

In the second half, MSU was able to maintain the lead all 20 minutes until the final buzzer. The Spartans once again lived at the free-throw line, converting 20-23 from the stripe. Senior forward Frankie Fidler was a large part of that, going 7-8 from the line on the night. 

Defensively the Spartans on ball pressure started with guards Tre Holloman and Jase Richardson, as the duo would combine for 10 steals with MSU tallying 13 by the final buzzer.

“They played great, I can’t tell you the last time we had 13 steals in a game,” Izzo said of Holloman and Richardson.

With six minutes left to go Akins would hit back-to-back threes, causing a timeout on the floor. The Spartans used this momentum to ride the lead down the stretch. 

“I knew I had to make a play, I’m thankful those went in, I have been working a lot and seeing those go in will be big for my confidence going forward,” Akins said.  

MSU now moves to 4-1 on the year with the Breslin Center homestand coming to a close to start the season. The Spartans will travel to Maui, Hawaii to face off against Colorado (4-0) on Nov. 25 with tip-off set for 5 p.m.