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Michigan State trails following hard-fought first half vs. No. 3 Kansas

Derek Peterson

By Derek Peterson

Published:

Michigan State and Kansas got the college basketball season tipped off Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in the State Farm Champions Classic. A back-and-forth first half gave neither side much headway early, but Kansas was able to create some separation at the end to take a 39-32 lead into the halftime break.

Neither team led by more than 4 points in the first half until a 7-0 Kansas run in the final 4 minutes gave some distance. The Spartans also went on a 3-minute scoring drought over that time.

Michigan State is beginning the season unranked for the first time since the 2011-12 year. It went 15-13 last season. But there’s real excitement over freshman phenom Max Christie. A 6-foot-6 guard and former 5-star recruit, Christie looked natural on the floor and plenty confident on the big stage. He scored 6 first-half points—though he took 8 shots to get there. AJ Hoggard led the Spartans with 8 points and 3 assists on 4-of-7 shooting.

Turnovers were an issue in the first half. Michigan State turned it over 11 times. It also missed 5-of-7 from 3-point range and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Kansas, ranked No. 3 in the country, also had questions of its own entering Tuesday night’s game. Namely, how would Arizona State transfer Remy Martin mesh with the team at point guard? After 4 years of volume scoring in the desert, Martin didn’t take a shot in the first half.

The Jayhawks were also without redshirt sophomore forward Jalen Wilson after he was suspended for the season’s first 3 games following an arrest on suspicion of DUI. Wilson averaged 11.8 points and led the team with 7.9 rebounds a game last year.

The Jayhawks were led by 12 points from guard Ochai Agbaji and connected on 4-of-12 from 3-point range as a team.

You can check out some of the first-half highlights below.

 

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.