EAST LANSING — From the outset Friday night, it appeared both highly touted defenses were going to fit the bill.
Two offenses that typically make their living inside the 3-point line weren’t left with any breathing room on the interior all game, constantly exchanging their typical back-downs and lane drives for kickouts and awkward fadeaways.
Not many looks were going to come easy for either offensive group. Everything would have to be created. In the end it was the No. 3 Michigan men’s basketball team (20-1 overall, 10-1 Big Ten) who manufactured itself the most opportunities, toppling No. 7 Michigan State (19-3, 9-2) 83-71 at Breslin Center for the first time in eight years.
Mainly on the back of graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who led the unit with 12 first-half points, the Wolverines jumped out to an early lead that expanded to as much as 18 before the halftime buzzer sounded.
Despite what such a lead suggests, Lendeborg’s and the rest of Michigan’s early looks were anything but easy to come by. Lendeborg himself drew two flagrant fouls towards the end of the half that gave him free throws and his team bonus possessions. And the Wolverines had to find themselves an edge in the three point game with a weakened interior attack, sinking five threes compared to their opponents’ two.
On Michigan State’s side, a flat game from beyond the arc was accompanied by an array of difficult mid-range jumpers and fadeaways as the Wolverines frontcourt wasn’t letting anyone through. These tough looks manifested themselves in the form of two shot-clock violations and a 26% shooting mark for the first half that put the Spartans down 16 at the recess, 42-26.
The scenario appeared glum for Michigan State at the break, but a 12-4 run to start the second, highlighted by a trademark alley-oop to forward Coen Carr, seemed to be the spark that reenergized a fleeting Breslin Center crowd. Guard Jeremy Fears finally started to see multiple shots fall, and created himself a plethora of opportunities at the charity stripe as well.
Led by Fears the Spartans picked up their slack, and it appeared neither team was going to back down on offense. A Lendeborg putback was immediately answered by an aggressive and-one from guard Jordan Scott that shrunk the Spartans’ deficit to two.
And with the game knotted just moments later, it was of course Fears who poked a Michigan in-bound pass free and took it coast-to-coast to give Michigan State its first lead of the night.
The two units continued to trade aggressive blows and awkward looks near the rim as neither defense gave out a single free pass through the lane. It was sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. that finally caught the Spartans slipping in the paint, punishing the lapse with a powerful slam that gave Michigan an ounce of breathing room.
Michigan State quickly refocused their efforts on the interior. This left junior guard Elliot Cadeau wide open for a statement 3-pointer, expanding the Wolverines’ lead to six and momentarily quelling the hostile home crowd.
That moment soon became lasting as it gave way to a cathartic Michigan victory, the first in their rivals’ home building in almost a decade. With just over a minute to play and the Wolverines up eight, a missed layup from Fears led to an all-out scramble under the hoop that was eventually recovered by Cadeau.
Wolverines head coach Dusty May called a timeout to secure the possession, and all five Michigan players on the court ran to their bench as if the game had just been sealed. Because it had been. In the wake of one last all-out effort to create an edge, the Wolverines built themselves the start of a new chapter in the fierce in-state rivalry, winning this edition 83-71.
