EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A season-high 23 points from junior guard Jaden Akins boosted Michigan State men's basketball to an 81-62 victory over Michigan Tuesday night at the Breslin Center for Spartan head coach Tom Izzo's 700th career win. MSU posted its fourth win in the last five games in moving to 13-8 overall and leveling its Big Ten ledger at 5-5. Michigan lost its fourth in a row in sliding to 7-14 overall and 2-8 in B1G play. Izzo becomes the first Big Ten head coach to reach the 700-win milestone at one school. Coach Izzo is also the 38th Division I men's basketball head coach to reach 700 wins. The legendary Spartan head coach is now 700-288 in his 29th season at the helm of MSU.
Michigan State has won the last six games played in the Breslin Center against the Wolverines, having won eight of the last 12 meetings overall. Tuesday night was the 193rd all-time meeting between MSU and UM, with the Spartans cutting the Wolverines' series lead to 104-89. Akins netted a career-high seven 3-pointers on the way to his career-scoring night. He led four Spartans in double-figures, followed by senior guard A.J. Hoggard with 15 points, while graduate guard Tyson Walker and graduate forward Malik Hall tallied 12 points each. Hoggard netted his 15th point of the night with 40 seconds left for his 1,000th career point. The Spartan guard not only becomes the 56th all-time MSU player to score 1,000 career points, but he’s also the third this season, joining Hall who reached the 1,000-career point plateau vs. Minnesota on Jan. 18, 2024, and Walker who reached 1,000 points in his MSU career vs. Oakland on Dec. 18, 2023. Michigan was led by 18 points from Jaelin Llewellyn who tallied four baskets from beyond the arc.
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