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Green leads MSU to win at Breslin

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Three in a row was bad enough. Draymond Green just didn’t want it to be four.

Entering Sunday’s matchup between No. 9 MSU (18-5 overall, 7-3 Big Ten) and No. 23 Michigan (17-7, 7-4), the Wolverines were riding a three-game winning streak in the rivalry, most recently winning 60-59 on Jan. 17 in Ann Arbor.

Knowing he likely had just one more shot at U-M, Green — playing through a knee injury that didn’t seem to bother the senior forward — delivered a dominating performance Sunday. Scoring 14 points and matching the Wolverine’s 16 team rebounds by himself, Green ensured he goes out on top in a rivalry he calls personal.

“You can’t go out losing to Michigan,” Green said. “That’s not something you want to do. I didn’t want to be remembered as the guy who went out losing to that other team.”

After spraining his left knee against Illinois on Tuesday, Green’s status was questionable heading into Sunday even after an MRI Wednesday revealed there was no structural damage.

However, Green put any worries to rest early, scoring four points and grabbing three rebounds as MSU built a 15-7 lead about midway through the first half.

MSU dominated the boards and played stifling defense, but eight first-half turnovers helped keep U-M in the game.

And after the Spartans built a double-digit lead late in the half, U-M’s Trey Burke hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 30-22 in favor of MSU at the break.

The Spartans made their physical presence known in the first half and carried it the rest of the way.

MSU out rebounded U-M 24-9 in the first half on the way to a 40-16 advantage in the game, and head coach John Beilein said his team simply couldn’t match the Spartans’ size.

“They just pound the ball in the post, and with some of the teams we’ve played, we’ve been able to deal with that,” Beilein said. “But today we couldn’t”

MSU also showed off its defense, limiting Trey Burke, who scored 20 points in the last meeting, to six points in the first half. Burke finished with 11 but never was much of a factor thanks in large part to sophomore and junior centers Adreian Payne and Derrick Nix dominating the paint.

In the second half, it appeared MSU’s size and athleticism were going to turn Sunday’s game into a blowout. But the Wolverines — paced by 14 points from Zack Novak — kept hanging around.

With about 11 minutes to play in the game and the Spartans leading 42-30, the MSU bench picked up a technical foul. Less than three minutes later, U-M cut the lead to single digits for the first time since the beginning of the second half.

However, after a Novak layup brought the Wolverines within eight, 47-39, with 7:26 to play, the Spartans took control.

Going on a 10-1 run and holding U-M without a basket for almost five minutes, MSU built a 17-point lead and never let the Wolverines pull within 11 points the rest of the way.

Along with Green, sophomore guard Keith Appling and freshman guard Branden Dawson each scored in double-digits with 10. As a team, MSU shot 24-for-46 (52.2 percent) while holding U-M to 39.6 percent shooting from the field.

Sunday’s win moved the Spartans into second place in the Big Ten behind Ohio State and bumped the U-M into a tie for third. But after dropping three in a row to the Wolverines, Izzo said the conference race wasn’t what had MSU motivated entering Sunday’s game.

“I guess they’re all must-wins when you’re competing for a championship, but it was more about the rivalry than it was about the Big Ten,” Izzo said. “It was way more about the rivalry.”

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