No. 2 Texas 79, No. 9 Michigan State 68: The Longhorns’ D Comes Up Big

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December 22 - Austin, TX (Sports Network) - Damion James posted game-highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds, as No. 2 Texas chalked up another impressive win to its early resume, a 79-68 decision over ninth-ranked Michigan State.

The Longhorns (11-0) were coming off an offensive showcase in a 103-90 victory over nationally-ranked North Carolina on Saturday. The team showed it can do it on the defensive side of the ball as well Tuesday, forcing 22 turnovers and holding the Spartans (9-3) to their lowest scoring output of the season.

Jordan Hamilton chipped in 14 points for Texas, which has won each game this season by double digits. Dogus Balbay and Gary Johnson were pests on the defensive side of the ball, each recording three steals to go with eight and seven points, respectively, for the victors.

Chris Allen led Michigan State with 12 points, while Durrell Summers and Kalin Lucas each netted 11 but shot a combined 8-of-24 from the floor in the loss, the first in five games for the Big Ten favorite.

MSU played frontrunner in the early stages of the second half, as Korie Lucious’ layup put the visitors on top, 52-47, with under 14 minutes to play.

Texas responded by scoring the next seven points, taking the lead on a James jumper. The Longhorns never gave up the lead despite their second-leading scorer, Dexter Pittman, picking up his fourth foul at the 11:09 mark.

Down 63-61 with 6 1/2 minutes left, Lucas had a chance to give Michigan State the lead but missed a three-pointer.

Johnson followed with a make from the left elbow, and after Delvon Roe’s putback rimmed out, James made the first of two free throws and got the rebound on the second miss, leading to J’Covan Brown’s up-and-under for a 68-61 lead with 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

Johnson’s steal and throw down on an alley-oop toss from Avery Bradley built a 74-63 lead two minutes later, and the outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way.

Texas scored the first seven points of the game but found itself down 13-12 after a Summers layup 5 1/2 minutes in.

It was back-and-forth before consecutive Lucious three-pointers yielded a 31-23 MSU lead roughly 10 minutes later. The hosts scored six straight points later in the half, which ended with the Spartans holding a 37-34 edge.

Michigan State plays Texas-Arlington on December 30, a day after Texas is next in action against Gardner-Webb...Texas’ head football coach Mack Brown was in attendance...James has 42 career double-doubles...Michigan State had won three straight in the series, which is now tied, 3-3...Pittman played just 12 minutes and ended with four points...This is the first time since Texas has won its first 11 games by double digits since the 1921-22 team did it in its first 13 games...Raymar Morgan scored eight points for Michigan State, which received 10 points from Lucious.