COLUMBUS, Ohio — Michigan State started strong and ended even stronger en route to a 69-60 second-round victory over Marquette in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night at Nationwide Arena.
The No. 7 seeded Spartans, who advanced to a Sweet 16 East Regional game against No. 3 seed Kansas State at Madison Square Garden, scored 11 of the first 13 points to start the game and, after Marquette clawed its way back into the game, they closed the game out with dominance.
“We beat a damn good team,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said shortly after being doused with a bucket of water by his players in a locker-room celebration. “They were tough. I am so proud of these guys for withstanding that, because I’ve been in Elite Eight games, I’ve been in thee Final Four [and] that was as intense and tough a game as I’ve been in my career.”
Michigan State’s senior guard Tyler Walker, a native of Westbury on Long Island, did what he does for the Spartans and took over the game in the final minutes.
He led all scorers with 23 points, 17 in the second half. Walker scored 15 points of his 23 points in the final 8:52.
Walker, who transferred to Michigan State from Northeastern two years ago, made a driving layup to give MSU a 58-55 lead with 3:01 remaining.
He hit a clutch jump shot to push the lead to 62-55 with 1:12 remaining, followed that up with two free throws for a 64-55 lead and then he turned a steal into a basket with 39 seconds left to seal the game at 66-55.
Now Walker gets to go home and play in front of his family and friends at the Garden. A dream scenario.
“It means everything,” Walker said. “Just growing up, seeing everything, playing at the Garden. It means a lot. Just to make those shots, look over see my dad, see how excited he was. That means everything. And I just owe Coach some pizza now … and a cab ride.”
Michigan State 6-foot-9 junior center Mady Sissoko, who finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, made two big defensive plays, blocking two shots by Marquette guard Tyler Kolek in the final two minutes.
The first led to the Walker basket for the 62-55 lead and the second led to Walker’s two free throws for the 64-55 lead.
The win sends Michigan State (21-12) to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.
For Marquette (29-7), the loss was somewhat foreign considering it entered the night on a 10-game winning streak, and having won 15 of its past 16 games.
That run including winning the Big East Tournament at the Garden, where the Golden Eagles had hoped to return for the Sweet 16 East Regional.
The team on that 10-game winning streak appeared absent early in this game, looking lost on the offensive end as Michigan State rushed to leads of 11-2 and 18-5 and looked like it was going to blow the Golden Eagles out of the building.
Marquette, though, finally found some momentum at the end of the half, which ended with the Spartans leading 33-28.
Marquette saved itself from falling too far behind to catch up with Olivier-Maxence Prosper, the 6-8 sophomore from Montreal, scoring nine points and Kam Jones scoring eight.
A Jones 3-pointer cut the Michigan State lead to 27-21 with 4:41 remaining n the opening half . And later, a Prosper 3-pointer shaved what had been a 13-point lead to 31-28 with 53.5 seconds remaining before halftime.
Michigan State outrebounded Marquette 20-12 in the first half.
The Spartans were led by Joey Hauser’s seven points and seven rebounds and Walker, who had six points and two assists in the first 20 minutes.
Jaden Akins had five points and three rebounds in the first half for Michigan State. Hauser finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, A.J. Hoggard had 13 points and four assists.
The Spartans won this game with grit and forcing their way into the paint. They were just 2 of 16 from 3-point range while Marquette was 11 of 27 from downtown.
“We have to keep the turnovers to under 10,” Sissoko said before the game. “Coach Izzo always talks about that. In this game, turnovers are going to be big. We have to keep our turnovers under control.”
Michigan State had seven turnovers in the first half, which allowed Marquette to stay in the game when the Spartans had the chance to really separate themselves. The Spartans finished with 13 turnovers.
