Spartans’ Forwards Power MSU to Road Win over OSU

*VALUE CITY ARENA- Columbus, OH*

Michigan State (AP 18/Coaches 15) regained the lead in the second half after relinquishing a 14-point lead and a furious rally by Ohio State (9-5, 1-2) Friday evening. The Spartans front court shouldered the production early, middle and late on both sides of the court in route to a big, 69-62 road win at Columbus. Szymon Zapala had a season high 15 points, leading the charge early in the first half while Jaden Akins poured in 14 points and Coen Carr with 11 points to round out the double-digit scorers for Coach Izzo’s squad.

MSU (12-2, 3-0) executed the coaching staff’s gameplan early and late: force OSU to move and guard their forwards outside the paint for mismatches, pick & rolls and free throw opportunities. The group stayed hot, consisting of Jaxon Kohler, Xavier Booker, Zapala and Carr who combined for: 43 points (16-24 FGs, 12-13 FTs), 20 rebounds, 6 turnovers, 5 blocks and none had more than one foul each across 82 game minutes. On the defensive side, while OSU rode a wave of second chance opportunities during their second half run, MSU was able to hold the Buckeyes top two scorers in Devin Royal and Bruce Thornton to 18 points (5-15 FGs) and forced 8 turnovers collectively. Carr would navigate a few key plays to counter the Buckeye’s run, including a sparkling display of transition ballhandling, capped with a trademark slam dunk prior to an OSU timeout.

Have a night, @szymon_zapala 🙌 @MSU_Basketball pic.twitter.com/kv22GCW468

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 4, 2025

Three stretch runs by the Spartans proved to be too much for OSU, with the first two extending into double-digit leads near the end of the 1st half and beginning of the 2nd half.  The final proved to be the most pivotal, right after surrendering the lead, down a point at the 8:47 mark of the second half we’ll set the scene: out of a timeout, Xavier Booker secured a defensive rebound, used his advantageous frame to guard his dribbling up the floor, took contact while finishing the field goal and converting the free throw. It gave them a 2-point lead, followed by a Tre Holloman 3-pointer and then he capped it off with an emphatic dunk, assisted by Jeremy Fears Jr., before Coach Diebler called a timeout, suddenly down 60-67 in 1:27 of an 8-0 burst by MSU.

“Two-hand wham!” Xavier Booker finishes it off @MSU_Basketball 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/48jnHW4eaI

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 4, 2025

Buckeyes Sparked by Massive 2nd Half Rally

Down 14, OSU suddenly found their offensive flow and ramped up their defense, mostly in steals and offensive rebounds giving them plentiful of put-back opportunities. It started with Ques Glover hitting a 3-pointer at the 16:58 mark after an Aaron Bradshaw steal of Zapala. MSU would counter with only 4 points (Akins/Zapala 2 each) from the 18:57 mark all the way until a Coen Carr dunk at the 11:18 spot, after a media timeout while OSU would get it down to 4 points prior to Carr’s dunk.

Bruce Thornton would carry most of the scoring run, including a lead-changing jumper with 8:47 left. They pressured the MSU guards and forced multiple steals and turnovers which put Izzo’s squad on their heels as they began to light up the arc, taking advantage of a younger Jeremy Fears Jr. who simply looked out-matched during that stretch. Fears would finish with a gutsy 6 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds to overcome his 3 fouls and 3 turnovers while appearing to have issues slipping, attempting to drive from the top of the key. Ohio State would finish with 15 offensive rebounds with a flurry of them during their 14-point comeback run.

Spartans Defense/2-Pt FG Shooting Continues to Improve

Coach Izzo’s team relied on their elite areas to victory: defensive scoring/free throws allowed, overall rebounding, 2-pt FG shooting and team free-throw percentage. While the edge was null in rebounding overall, they secured the boards at the critical times and swatted 5 field goal attempts, shot 21-37 from 2-point (56.75%), had six fewer fouls, dominated in the paint with 38 points to OSU’s 22 and rose their team free-throw percentage to 81.3%, 6th in the country and 11th in FTs made.

According to Bart Tovik, MSU’s 2-point FG effective defense ranks 36th, ORB 22nd, DRB 18th while raising their 2-point FG percentage to 44th as well as their 3-point percentage allowed to 45th. Collectively on the defensive side, they are 18th overall in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency. KenPom agrees, echoing a Defensive Rating of 7th and Offensive Rating of 36th. Specifically, they have limited opponents to 13.4 ast/game (232nd efficiency rank) Limiting second chances and owning the boards lead to more offensive opportunities with a solid +11 rebound margin/game. This has allowed their offense to continue to share the scoring, which now ranks 14th in assists/game with 17.9, 11th in total rebounds/game at 41.4.

TEAM STATS:
MSU: 24-55 FG (43.6%), 3-18, 3-PT (16.7%), 18-22 FT (81.8%)

OSU: 22-60 FG (36.7%), 7-27, 3-PT (25.9%), 11-16 FT (68.8%)

Record/Rankings & More:

12-2 (3-0, 1st-Big Ten) 

Updated KenPom- Off: 36th / Def: 7th. Adjusted Tempo: 151st. SOS Net Rtg: 52nd +4.72

Other Metrics: KPI (13th), ESPN SoR (21st), ESPN BPI (21st), T-Rank: 24th

FULL KenPom Stats: https://kenpom.com/index.php

FULL Bart Torvik Stats: https://barttorvik.com/#

FULL T-Rank Stats: https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2025/net-teamsheets-plus#google_vignette

NEXT ON THE CLOCK:

MSU will have a mini break to rest and start game planning as Washington, who is 10-4 (1-2) at the time this is posted, comes to East Lansing on Thursday (1/9) at 8:00pm ET on Big Ten Network.