Michigan State embarrasses Cats in Champions Classic
Madison Square Garden once felt like a home away from home for Kentucky basketball.
It has been a nightmare for the Wildcats in recent years.
Kentucky lost its fourth consecutive game in the “Basketball Mecca” on Tuesday, getting blasted by No. 17 Michigan State, 83-66, in the Champions Classic.
Last season, the Cats were crushed 85-65 in the CBS Sports Classic at MSG by an Ohio State team that went 9-11 in Big Ten play and failed to make the NCAA Tournament.
Tom Izzo’s Spartans dominated the No. 12 Cats (3-2) in almost every phase of the game. Michigan State (4-0) shot 50% from the field, 50% from the arc, and owned a 42-28 advantage on the glass.
Big man Jaxon Kohler led the Spartans with a game-high 20 points on an 8-for-10 night from the field. He also pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists. MSU guard Ker Teng followed with 15 points, and point guard Jeremy Fears had a huge all-around performance with eight points, six rebounds, 13 assists, and three steals.
“We made some shots, and we still rebounded the ball,” Izzo said. “That’s a very good (Kentucky) team. They didn’t play well tonight. They didn’t make shots early.”
The Cats led 17-14 with 13 minutes left in the first half and were playing well on the offensive end of the floor, but it unraveled quickly. Michigan State went on a 30-10 run to lead 44-27 at halftime.
Kentucky briefly pulled within 10 with 9:37 remaining in the second half, but the Spartans responded with a 20-6 run to bury the Cats.
Only a 10-point flurry in the final two minutes prevented the beating from being worse.
“We have to lose ourselves in each other,” a dejected Pope said after his team’s loss. “We’re not in this for each other right now the way that we need to be for our team to be competitive.”
Kentucky placed four players in double-figure scoring, but none had a strong game. Otega Oweh scored a team-high 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting from the field. Denzel Aberdeen scored 10 on a 1-for-8 night. Mouhamed Dioubate and Collin Chandler each added 10 points.
The Cats were held to 35% from the field and 7-of-30 from beyond the arc.
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In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated touches on some quick-hitters from the UK loss…
GAME BALL:
Jeremy Fears, Michigan State — The Michigan State point guard did a little bit of everything, stuffing the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, 13 assists, and three steals.
BY THE NUMBERS:
4 – Different Michigan State players with five or more rebounds on a night when the Spartans dominated the glass 42-14. The Wildcats had no players with five rebounds.
6-9 – Kentucky’s record in the Champions Classic.
11/22 – Michigan State’s 3-point shooting. The Spartans entered the game as one of the worst shooting P5 teams from the arc in the country, hitting just 13 of 60 (21%) in their first three games.
14-13 – UK leads the all-time series with MSU, but the margin was trimmed to one on Tuesday.
25 – Assists by the Spartans on 32 field goals.
QUOTABLE:
“It’s a complicated cocktail to find, and right now, I’m not doing a good job of it.” — UK head coach Mark Pope on the team being slow to come together.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action on Friday against Loyola (Md.) with a 7 p.m. ET tipoff at Rupp Arena.