National Basketball Association
Michigan St 81, Ohio St. 54
When: 6:30 PM ET, Friday, March 11, 2016
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Officials:
# Bo Boroski, # Donnie Eppley, # Terry Wymer
Attendance:
N/A
By The Sports Xchange
INDIANAPOLIS -- According to Big Ten Player of the Year Denzel Valentine, No. 2 Michigan State is playing like an angry basketball team.
That anger was on full display Friday night in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.
Valentine had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and second-seeded Michigan State ran away from No. 7 seed Ohio State 81-54 in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The second-ranked Spartans (27-5) have won 11 of their last 12 games, including three victories over the Buckeyes (20-13) during that stretch.
"We're asked about Ohio State being a desperate team, but we are, too, because we are mad about not winning the Big Ten (regular season) championship," Valentine said.
Michigan State advances to play No. 3 seed Maryland in Saturday afternoon's second semifinal.
Michigan State opened the second half with an 8-0 run, including consecutive 3-pointers from Valentine and Eron Harris, to increase its seven-point halftime lead to 41-26 with 18:12 left, prompting an Ohio State timeout.
That run became 14-2 on a Matt Costello dunk with 15:18 remaining, giving the Spartans a 47-28 advantage.
"We got back to playing Michigan State basketball," Valentine said of the second half's fast start. "We got out in transition, and that led to a big lead."
Harris added 13 for Michigan State, Deyonta Davis scored 12 and Costello finished with 10.
JaQuan Lyle led Ohio State with 10 points.
"We started kind of slowly, not really getting out and running like we normally do," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "Then, Denzel got after some guys in the huddle, and we started playing better. We missed some wide-open 3s, but we still were able to get the ball inside when we needed to."
The Buckeyes, who were outrebounded 39-25, made only 1 of 13 shots from 3-point range.
Michigan State shot 48.4 percent from the field (31 of 64), including 20 of 33 during the second half when it outscored Ohio State 48-28.
"We felt decent at halftime, but they make you pay for your mistakes, and we made some to start the second half," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "Then, we kind of reverted back to some of our November behavior."
Buckeyes forward Marc Loving said the start of the second half took Ohio State out of the game.
"Some miscommunication on our part turned into points for them," Loving said. "That's how they got that big lead. They are a fantastic team."
Valentine had 14 first-half points, leading Michigan State to a 33-26 advantage through 20 minutes, although the Spartans shot only 35.5 percent from the floor (11 of 31). Davis had eight points in the half.
Ohio State got seven first-half points from Lyle and shot 40.7 percent from the field (11 of 27).
The Buckeyes took an early 5-4 lead before the Spartans used a 13-2 run to take command at 17-7.
While Ohio State enjoyed a 16-12 advantage in points in the paint, Michigan State outscored the Buckeyes 7-2 in points off turnovers.
NOTES: Ohio State advanced to the quarterfinals with a 79-75 victory over Penn State on Thursday. ... The Buckeyes played the Spartans twice in the final two weeks of the regular season, losing 81-62 and 91-76. ... Ohio State was 4-5 after a Dec. 12 loss at Connecticut but rallied to win 20 games. ... Michigan State entered 10-1 since Jan. 20, losing only in overtime at No. 13 Purdue on Feb. 9.
Top Game Performances
Ohio St. |
|
Michigan St |
JaQuan Lyle 10 |
Scoring |
Denzel Valentine 19 |
Keita Bates-Diop 2 |
Assists |
Denzel Valentine 8 |
Keita Bates-Diop 6 |
Rebounds |
Denzel Valentine 9 |
Marc Loving 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Eron Harris 4 |
JaQuan Lyle 2 |
Steals |
Deyonta Davis 2 |
Keita Bates-Diop 2 |
Blocks |
Deyonta Davis 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Ohio St.
|
54 |
42.6 |
1-11 |
7-11 |
8 |
25 |
6 |
4 |
14 |
Michigan St
|
81 |
48.4 |
8-23 |
11-14 |
17 |
39 |
4 |
10 |
8 |