EAST LANSING Michigan State basketball did exactly what Tom Izzo wanted his Spartans to do.
Take care of the Spartans the other Spartans.
And No. 17 MSUs 79-60 victory over San Jose State at Breslin Center on Thursday, Nov. 13, took care of business and sends Izzos group on to its next major test No. 8 Kentucky in the Champions Classic in New York.
Seniors Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler dominated on the block, combining for 34 points and 25 rebounds. It included a career-best 18 rebounds with 17 points for Kohler, and a personal-high 17 points with seven rebounds for Cooper.
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Redshirt sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with a career-high 15 points, five rebounds and nine of the Spartans 25 assists on 28 made buckets. Sophomore Kur Teng had a career-high 10 points, all in the first half, for MSU (3-0).
Colby Garland scored 22 points on 10-for-16 shooting, while Yaphet Moundi had 13 points on 11-of-16 free throws for San Jose State (0-3). MSU held the visiting Spartans to just 35.7% shooting overall and 8-for-27 from 3-point range.
Izzo was concerned about how his team might start coming off Saturdays thrilling 69-66 victory over No. 21 Arkansas and with a big-time game ahead against the Wildcats.
MSU answered with authority.
Coen Carr who had eight points, four rebounds and a career-high five assists delivered a bucket through hard contact to open the game, then threw down a dunk in transition off a Fears feed. MSU raced to a 19-3 lead thanks to stifling SJSU into a 1-for-13 start, pounding the boards for a 13-6 early rebounding edge and eight fastbreak points in the first eight-plus minutes.
Izzos team extended its lead to 46-23 at the break as Teng had 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting and both of MSUs 3-pointers. (The host team made just two of 10 from outside early.) Cooper had 12 points and four rebounds despite missing four of six free throw attempts.
It was about as pleasing of a halftime box score as Izzo could want beyond the continued outside shooting issues. MSU had 14 assists on 16 field goals, including six helpers from Fears. The home Spartans had a 26-11 rebounding margin and an 18-1 fastbreak advantage.
After halftime, the visiting Spartans scored the first eight points to draw Izzos ire and an MSU timeout, then further trimmed it to a 48-36 deficit. But MSU responded and quickly built its cushion back to 20 with seven points from Kohler, including a 3-pointer, and another 3 from Fears.
MSU finished just 6-of-25 from 3-point range, though Fears hit three in the second half. Izzos team owned the glass (45-26) and the paint scoring (34-20), and his Spartans also finished with a 24-8 advantage on the break.
Izzos game-opening rotation might have tipped his hand on his preferred usage. And it comes with a heavy dose of his starters.
MSU started Fears, Carr, Kohler, Cooper and transfer Trey Fort; Izzo did not go to his bench until the 14:50 mark of the opening half, well past the first media timeout. Teng replaced Fort, then Izzo brought transfer guard Divine Ugochukwuo along with freshman wings Jordan Scott and Cam Ward with 13:22 to go in the half. Jesse McCulloch saw some first-half spot duty, and Denham Wojcik made a brief late-half appearance as the lead swelled past 20.
In the second half, Izzo more freely substituted and mixed his playing group. The result showed as the 23-point halftime lead dipped to single digits with 4:39 to play.
Izzo takes his team to Madison Square Garden in New York to take on Kentucky in the 15th annual Champions Classic on Tuesday (6:30 p.m., ESPN). That game will be followed at MSG by No. 4 Duke vs. No. 24 Kansas.
The Spartans are 5-9 all-time in the nomadic event after losing 77-69 to then-No. 1 Kansas last year in Atlanta. Their last Champions Classic win came over Kentucky in 2022 in Indianapolis, an 86-77 two-overtime thriller.
MSU is 2-2 in the Champions Classic against the Wildcats, whose 6-8 record is the second-worst, better than only MSU’s mark.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball rides power in the paint past San Jose State