An impressive comeback that dented Michigan State's huge lead wasn't enough to make up for Northwestern's slow start on Friday night in East Lansing.
The Wildcats whittled what was a 19-point lead in the first half down to seven by halftime and as small as four multiple times throughout the second half, but they got no closer — thanks in part to a 10-minute stretch without a basket in the second half — as the Spartans moved to 2-0 in Big Ten play with a 61-52 win.
Northwestern started in ice-cold fashion, making just two baskets over the first 11 and a half minutes of the game. That allowed Michigan State to build a huge lead, and the Spartans led 23-6 before Scottie Lindsey thawed the Cats out a bit, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. Still, the Spartans' lead touched 19 before the Cats really started chipping away. Spurred on by 3-pointers — seven of them over the first 20 minutes — Northwestern closed the half on a 20-8 scoring run to shave the deficit to seven at the break.
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The offensive production for both teams dropped off a cliff after halftime. The Cats got within four early in the half, but the lead accordioned between four and nine for pretty much the remainder. Michigan State didn't shoot well after halftime, but Northwestern shot worse. While the Spartans didn't really take too much of an advantage, the Cats buried themselves with a ridiculous 10-minute stretch without a made basket. By the time Bryant McIntosh snapped the drought with a layup, it was a seven-point game with an minute and a half left. As Michigan State knocked down free throws, Northwestern didn't hit again until a last-second layup by Isiah Brown.
The Cats shot just 28.6 percent from the field in the second half and made just one 3-pointer after shooting better than 44 percent and hitting six 3s in the first half. While the Spartans weren't much better after halftime, shooting just 32 percent from the field, they shot 54.2 percent during the first half.
Michigan State won the rebounding battle, 43-27, and had a massive 18-2 edge in fast-break points.
Vic Law and Lindsey were the lone Northwestern scorers in double figures with 16 and 11 points, respectively. Alvin Ellis III led Michigan State with 16 points, while freshmen Cassius Winston and Nick Ward had 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Big Ten
It was a tough loss for the Cats, who looked so dominant in their Big Ten-opening win over Penn State earlier this week. Those long stretches of offensive ineptitude are nothing new, though. The majority of the second half of the win over Dayton comes to mind.
For Michigan State, that's back-to-back wins to open conference play after suffering five losses during the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Spartans beat Minnesota earlier in the week and now own a win over Northwestern, a pair of double-digit win teams in the Big Ten.