Miles Bridges piled up 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists and No. 3 seed Michigan State held on for an 82-78 victory over Bucknell in an NCAA Tournament Midwest Region opener at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena on Friday night.

Joshua Langford scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half for the Spartans (30-4), the Big Ten regular-season champions. Cassius Winston had a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists. Michigan State will face Syracuse on Sunday.

Zach Thomas scored a team-high 27 points, including 20 in the first half, before fouling out for 14th-seeded Bucknell (25-10). Stephen Brown had 20 points and Kimbal Mackenzie added 10 with six assists for the Bison, who won the Patriot League championship.

Langford made all but one of his shot attempts in the opening half as Michigan State led 44-40 at the break.

The Spartans led by 11 midway through the half but Thomas carried the Bison back into the game. He went on a personal 7-0 run to energize his club.

A Thomas 3-pointer with 5:27 remaining in the half gave Bucknell its only lead at 28-27. Langford then started a 7-0 Spartans spurt with a jumper. Brown made two free throws in the final minute to pull Bucknell within a point. A Bridges three-point play closed out the scoring in the half.

Sparked by its defense, Michigan State gradually built the lead in the second half. The Bison missed 11 of their first 12 field-goal tries and the Spartans went up by 10, 56-46, on Nick Ward's fast-break layup.

Bridges soon took over the game. He converted a one-handed putback dunk, a layup and a three to make it 63-48.

With the Spartans up 14, Thomas was whistled for a technical foul with 6:06 remaining for gesturing and arguing with the officials over a non-call. That also counted as a personal foul and Thomas, who already had four fouls, was done for the night.

Bucknell hit some late threes but had too much ground to make up.

--Field Level Media