Michigan State basketball gets big bench game in 96-60 win vs. Niagara

On November 8, 2024By Littum

EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo needed a spark after a slow start. He found it in Jaxon Kohler and the rest of Michigan State basketball’s backups.

The big junior came off the bench for a career-high 20 points and 13 rebounds Thursday night as the Spartans pulled away from Niagara, 96-60, at the Breslin Center.

The 6-foot-9 Kohler hit eight of 12 shot attempts and went 4-for-5 at the free throw line.

“He just went,” Izzo said. “As I tell our guys, effort-related things (are) a choice. It’s a choice — do you want to do it or don’t you want to do it? Do you want to go or don’t you want to go? Do you want to run or do you want to you don’t run?

“And I give (Kohler) credit. I told you, he was the best player I had all summer and he did some good things. He did some really good things. And he got to the line and that helped us to get to the line.”

But he wasn’t alone in doing damage for MSU, which had five players score in double figures — including two other reserves.

Freshman Jase Richardson came off the bench to finish with 12 points in his second collegiate game, while junior Tre Holloman added 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting. Starters Frankie Fidler added 11 points and four rebounds, Jaden Akins had 10 points and six rebounds, and point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. had seven points and eight assists.

The offseason and early season testing is over for Izzo’s new squad. The Spartans (2-0) prepare for their first big challenge of the season Tuesday when they face No. 1 Kansas in the Champions Classic. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m. at State Farm Arena in Atlanta (ESPN).

The Jayhawks opened Monday with an 87-57 blowout of Howard, but their first marquee game of the season comes Friday when they host No. 10 North Carolina at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.

“Let’s face it: We haven’t played the Celtics yet,” Izzo said. “I guess we’ll do that just around the corner. So we’ll kind of see where we are early in the year. Are we ready for it or not? We’ll find out.”

Olumide Adelodun had 13 points and Jahari Williamson 12 for Niagara (1-1), which plays Detroit Mercy at 1 p.m. Sunday at Calihan Hall in its second of seven straight road games.

Bench power

After opening the season Monday with a quick 17-2 run in an eventual 81-57 home win over Monmouth, MSU had to come from behind quickly Thursday.

The Purple Eagles, coached by former Duke basketball and Syracuse football standout Greg Paulus, opened the game with three 3-pointers to torch the Spartans’ starters with an 11-4 burst.

Izzo quickly turned to his bench, and his second unit provided the type of instant offense the 30th-year MSU coach hopes it will during the season.

Coen Carr got it going with another of his typically electrifying dunks, and Kohler followed with a putback layup through contact to complete the three-point play. The Spartans’ reserves — Kohler, Carr, Holloman and Richardson — joined Akins in putting together a 12-1 counterattack to take the lead for good and call Paulus a timeout. The starters bounced back from there and promptly added another basket from Szymon Zapala before Adelodun converted a three-point play. No matter, when Fears scored on a drive, Xavier Booker drained a 3-pointer and had a steal and a layup as part of a 16-4 spurt that extended the lead to 28-16.

The Purple Eagles stayed in the game from beyond the arc, hitting seven 3-pointers in the first half, including four from Jhaylon Martinez. Adelodun scored the final five points of the half, including a 3 with 34 seconds left, as Niagara closed with its own 7-2 spurt to cut MSU’s cushion to 46-39.

Along with the defensive woes at the arc, the Spartans struggled on the glass and held just a 17-14 edge at the half against the fast and gritty but undersized Purple Eagles. MSU also went just 3-for-9 from deep, continuing the outside shooting woes that have plagued Izzo’s teams in Spain and in exhibition games.

Boarding school

That lack of rebounding clearly irked Izzo. His Spartans came out of the break attacking the glass far more ferociously.

After Adelodun hit the Purple Eagles’ eighth 3-pointer and a dunk by Will Shortt coming out of the break made it a three-point game, the Spartans began pounding the offensive glass and getting put-back points. Kohler scored inside, Fidler cleaned up a Booker miss and was fouled for a three-point play, then Kohler grabbed his own missed shot and put it back as part of an 11-0 response that forced Paulus to call timeout with MSU extending its lead to 58-44. The Spartans had four offensive boards and nine second-chance points in the first 4:24 of the final half.

Kohler continued to go inside, attacking the glass for boards and putbacks and using his size advantage to consistently post the smaller Purple Eagles. And almost as quickly as Niagara cut it to a one-possession game, MSU pushed its lead to 22 points with a Zapala dunk, a baseline spin for a layup by Kohler and a three-point play by Richardson.

Ten different Spartans scored and nine had at least one rebound before the final media timeout. MSU finished with a 45-28 rebounding edge thanks to a 28-14 second-half performance. That included 11 offensive boards for a 13-2 second chance scoring advantage. The Spartans also had a 28-12 scoring edge in the paint and a 13-0 fastbreak advantage after halftime.

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.

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