Michigan State basketball tops Western Michigan, former assistant Dwayne Stephens 80-62

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EAST LANSING – The easy part is done, even if it wasn’t exactly a smooth ride.

An odd Monday afternoon start led to sloppy play at times, but No. 15 Michigan State basketball finished its nonconference slate with an 80-62 victory over Western Michigan.

Despite committing 17 turnovers that led to 14 Broncos points, it was another balanced performance for the Spartans (11-2). Jaden Akins scored 18 points, Carson Cooper had 13 points and six rebounds, and Szymon Zapala added eight points and nine rebounds. Jase Richardson, Tre Holloman and Coen Carr each scored nine as MSU shot 50% overall and finished with a 41-18 scoring edge off the bench.

The Spartans return to Big Ten play Friday night at Ohio State. Tipoff is 8 p.m. at Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio (Fox).

Chansey Willis Jr. had 12 points and Max Burton scored 10 for WMU (3-9), which is coached by longtime Tom Izzo assistant coach Dwayne Stephens, who played for Jud Heathcote from 1989-93 with Izzo as an assistant. It was the first return to Breslin Center for Stephens since taking over the Broncos before the 2022-23 season.

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Mentor faces the mentee

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo chats with Western Michigan Broncos head coach Dwayne Stephens at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024.

Izzo talked all week about how difficult it would be to face a protégé, particularly having spent much of the past 30 years alongside Stephens – a player Izzo helped recruit and who was part of Izzo’s coaching staff for 19 years before taking over WMU.

In part, it’s due to the kinship. In part, it’s due to someone having intimate knowledge of the interworking of Izzo’s offense and defense.

And the Broncos disrupted MSU’s offensive flow early, forcing a few early turnovers and getting a pair of 3-pointers from Brandon Muntu and another from JaVaughn Hannah to build an 11-5 cushion less than…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-state-basketball-tops-western-221657495.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-12-30 22:16:00

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