Briahanna Jackson had 11 of her 13 points in the first half and Moore had 10 when the Cardinals (2-4) shot 61 percent, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range, to open a 45-32 lead.
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Of course, those shots wouldn’t have been possible without Bryn Forbes, who scored a season-high 20 points, and Denzel Valentine, who scored 25 points in addition to grabbing five rebounds and dishing seven assists.
Michigan State is 6-1 against the spread in their last seven home games, 4-1 against the spread against the ACC, and 5-2 against the spread following a game that they covered the point spread. “Unfortunately, we gave them the opportunity to win it”. “They did a lot of things”.
MSU will play Binghampton at home on Saturday.
Michigan State represented a huge step up in competition, yet Louisville was up to the challenge. The Spartans have won every game by double-digits, except for the six point win against Kansas, and that includes a nice win over Providence. Louisville on the other hand lost many of their best players and did not do as well as expected recruiting top prospects, which is why they came in outside of the top 25.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino suggested last week that his team was unranked because of something that came to light before the season. “I won’t say we didn’t deserve to, because I thought we fought back, but I thought they played awfully well for a long period of time in that game”.
When asked after the game about how he feels about the Spartans this year, coach Tom Izzo said, “What I love about this team is we’re just sitting down here …”
Michigan State is led by one of the early frontrunners for National Player of the Year in Denzel Valentine. Mathiang is coming off a career game in Louisville’s win over Saint Louis as he had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Louisville will need a repeat performance against the Spartans.
The Cardinals sprinted out of the gates early and never looked back, leading for 39 minutes of Thursday’s contest. We beat a good team. Regardless of the officiating, the Cardinals still blew a lead that should have been kept if it wasn’t for pointless mistakes.
“They brought the toughness and intensity and we didn’t have that at first”, Valentine said.
“Our big keys to the game were we would have to rebound well, and it ended up we did”, said Izzo.
Senior forward Markus Kennedy contributed 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field for the Mustangs (5-0), who scored the final eight points. Izzo said it reminded him of times past.
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Aerial Powers had 21 points and Branndais Agee 17 for the Spartans (4-2), who trailed by 17 early in the second half. He ended the game as Michigan State’s best rebounding option.
