EAST LANSING, Mich. – The train that is Michigan State men’s basketball kept rolling with another impressive win on Tuesday night.
The Spartans led by 20 at the half against Minnesota and kept up that consistency in the second half on their way to a 73-51 win over the Gophers.
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Minnesota native Tre Holloman led the way with 12 points (all of them in the first half), while Jaden Akins poured in 10 points.
The Spartans have now won 13-straight games and are 9-0 in Big Ten play. The last time they accomplished either of those feats was during the 2018-19 season.
Tom Izzo is proud of his team, but knows there is still work to be done for his group that is ranked No. 7 in the country.
“The battle cry is to be different, and not give in to all those things, and I’m sticking with it,” Izzo said. “I think the road is going to get tougher. I told you: It’s backloaded.”
Izzo is right. Of the Spartans' nine wins in conference play, seven have come against teams that are currently 3-6 or worse in Big Ten action.
The Spartans will be tested down the back stretch of the season. Their next two games are on the road in Los Angeles against USC and UCLA. Then begins a stretch of four games that include three against teams currently ranked in the Top 25: vs. No. 16 Oregon, at No. 18 Illinois, and vs. No. 10 Purdue.
“I don’t want to diminish what we’ve done, either, because we’ve done some incredible things,” Izzo said. “We have stayed focused. Most of the games we’ve won, sometimes we had little letdowns but we won pretty decisively.”
“I’m proud of the team for staying consistent.”
Michigan State is at USC at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. That game will be broadcast on Peacock.