Hoggard, Walker lead the way as Michigan State beats Minnesota 77-67 in Big Ten Tournament
A.J. Hoggard scored 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting, Tyson Walker added 15 points and No. 8 seed Michigan State beat No. 9 seed Minnesota 77-67 on Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.
Michigan State (19-13) advances to play top-seeded Purdue in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Spartans dropped an 80-74 contest at then-No. 2 Purdue on March 2 in the only regular-season meeting. Zach Edey had 32 points and 11 rebounds in that game as the Boilermakers clinched a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship — their conference-best 26th title.
Michigan State went on a 15-2 run over a five-minute stretch to pull away from Minnesota in the second half. Malik Hall made his second field goal of the game with 11:53 left and he completed the three-point play to give Michigan State a 50-49 lead. Hall added a layup with 7:25 left to cap the run for a 59-51 lead as Minnesota missed five field goals during the stretch.
Walker took over down the stretch, scoring eight straight points. He gave Michigan State its first double-digit lead of the game with 3:12 left on a long jumper from the wing and, after a Minnesota basket, he added a shot in the lane to regain the 10-point edge. He got to the rim once more for a shot that hit hard off the backboard, but Jaxon Kohler followed with a putback to make it 73-64 with 1:46 left.
Hoggard made all five of his shots in the second half for 13 points, Walker was 4 of 6 for 10 points and Michigan State shot 62% after halftime. Hall scored seven of his nine points in the second half.
Dawson Garcia led Minnesota (18-14) with 19 points. Parker Fox, Pharrel Payne and Cam Christie each scored 11. Elijah Hawkins had 10 points and seven assists.
Both teams shot 48% or better from the field in the first half as Minnesota held a 34-32 lead.