Michigan State can't slow down Michigan's offense, falling 90-80 in Ann Arbor

No. 8 Michigan State took on No. 3 Michigan on the road for the regular season finale Sunday but couldn't find enough baskets on offense to counter a hot-shooting Wolverine squad.

The 90-80 win by UM is the first regular season sweep in the series by the Wolverines since 2017-2018, though the second win came in the Big Ten Tournament as the teams met only once during the regular season in East Lansing.

Jaxon Kohler led MSU with 23 points and eight rebounds. The Spartan big man finished the day 50% from deep on four attempts as well, also notching a block.

Jeremy Fears Jr. was second in scoring with 22 points, coming just shy of a double-double with nine assists.

Carson Cooper added 19 points for MSU, as well as six boards. Coen Carr was just ahead of him on the glass with seven and Kur Teng was close to double figures with eight points. Just six Spartans scored in the game overall with a mere eight points from the MSU bench.

UM, by contrast, had five players finish in double figures among eight players to score overall. The Wolverines' bench finished with 29 points as Yaxel Lendeborg led all scorers on the afternoon with 27. Morez Johnson Jr. was next for UM with 18 points. Overall, UM finished the game shooting 49.1% from the field and 45.5% from beyond the arc on 22 total attempts from deep.

First Half

The Spartans drew first blood, opening up a 5-0 lead before the Wolverines could get on the board thanks to scores by Cooper and Fears. UM was able to cut its deficit to 7-5 prior to be media break after a tightly called shooting foul against Kohler gave Lendeborg two free throws that he hit both of.

The next stretch of game action started to get quite heated. Starting prior to the break, UM mounted an 11-0 run which was ended on the second of three technical calls coming in quick succession. First was Fears for MSU and then Mara and later McKenney for UM. Fears was first up as he very obviously kicked his right leg up behind him, drawing a review and technical foul.

Just a minute later Mara proceeded to then very clearly shove Cooper in the back while the two were in the air going up for a potential rebound as his teammate Roddy Gayle Jr. hit a bucket.

Soon thereafter a third technical was assessed against McKenney as he punched the ball out of Kohler's hands while Kohler was setting up out of bounds to inbound it following a made Michigan basket. Fears got one free throw out of it, which he hit, cutting MSU's deficit to 18-14.

The teams battled back and forth after that until the next media break, MSU still trailing 23-19 with 7:49 left in the half.

Coming out of the break, Teng hit back-to-back 3-pointers in between a layup from Kohler, tying it up on the second at 27. Lendeborg answered right back with a trey of his own to put the Wolverines back in the lead. Fears was able to draw a shooting foul on a layup, but missed the first of his two shots, trimming it to just 33-29 for the Spartans.

A layup by Nimari Brunett for the Wolverines would be the final UM score from the field for the next stretch as MSU scored 12 unanswered field goals to UM's two free throws during that stretch, opening up a 41-37 lead for the Spartans with 1:47 left in the half.

The Wolverines would hit two straight from tehre, a layup by Lendeborg and a trey by Burnett to take a 42-41 lead into the locker room.

Lendeborg led all scorers in the first half with 19 points, while Kohler had 12 for MSU alongside five rebounds. Cooper had 11 points and also five boards, while Fears finished the half with 10 points and four assists. The Spartans finished the half winning the battle at the glass as well, grabbing 19 rebounds that included seven offensive boards that led to seven second chance points. MSU finished with nine team fouls on the half, three by Cameron Ward.

Second Half

The second half started out tight for the opening stretch. The Spartans found answers for Wolverine baskets, never letting the lead grow to more than six at its largest, trailing 51-47 at the first media break with 15:39 to go. That stop in play ended up occurring for the officials to review a steal by Fears which resulted in Mara retaliating with a yank of Fears's shoulder. The officials determined it to be a flagrant one foul, what would become Mara's third and somehow final foul of the game despite physical play throughout by the Wolverine big, totaling a technical and a flagrant one.

Fears went on to hit both shots with a jumper from Kohler, tying it up at 51. That stretch would carry on into an 11-4 run for the Spartans, capped off by a Carr dunk to make it 56-53 MSU. After a turnaround jumper from McKenney broke the run, a jumper from Cooper inside the paint hit the mark for the score while drawing an and one for the MSU big. He hit the extra attempt and gave MSU a 61-57 lead with 12:59 left, but that would ultimately be the highwater mark for the Spartans for the remainder of the game.

The Wolverines would mount an 11-0 run from there, opening a 68-61 advantage by the 8:29 mark. While it was stopped by a Fears alleyoop to Cooper (one that also led to another and one score for the 3-point play by the Spartan big), the hole MSU dug itself into would prove insurmountable.

McKenney answered right back with a trey for the Wolverines, though it briefly was quieted by a dunk from Carr. Soon thereafter the media timeout broke the action after a foul by McKenney as MSU trailed 77-61 with 6:59 remaining.

The Spartans were able to cut it to within three twice, the latest coming with 3:47 left on a jumper from Fears. UM responded back with a 3-pointer from Lendeborg, opening it up to 76-70 and forcing a timeout for MSU. Fears answered right back with a bucket, but then a 7-0 run for UM all but ended it, up 83-72 with just 54 seconds left. During that stretch, Cooper was also called for a technical foul with 1:11 left. He got too physical in a non-basketball play against a Mara shot attempt.

The Spartans resorted to fouling down the stretch to try and stay in it but couldn't find baskets on their own end to answer for UM scores. At the final buzzer, it was 90-80 UM.

The Big Ten Tournament is next for MSU. The Spartans clinched a double bye with the full bracket coming soon.