No. 10 Michigan State 54, No. 17 Wisconsin 47: Spartans Have Just A Bit More Offense

Read more at our Spartan blog, The Only Colors, and our Badger blog, Bucky’s 5th Quarter.

January 6, 2010 - East Lansing, MI (Sports Network) – Chris Allen posted a team-high 16 points, as No. 10 Michigan State won a defensive battle against 17th-ranked Wisconsin, 54-47, in Big Ten action at the Breslin Center.

Draymond Green logged 11 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Spartans (12-3, 2-0 Big Ten), who stayed perfect at home and won their third straight overall despite leading scorer Kalin Lucas making just 3-of-13 attempts from the floor.

Jon Leuer logged 21 points and seven rebounds for the Badgers (12-3, 2-1), who had a six-game winning streak snapped after getting outrebounded, 36-23.

Trevon Hughes came in averaging 16.5 points per game but scored just seven on 3-of-12 shooting in defeat.

Though Wisconsin never led, the game was tied on several occasions in the early portion of the second half.

Near the midway point, Leuer made a layup to knot things at 35-all before Michigan State scored nine of the next 12 points.

Raymar Morgan’s free throw made it 44-38 with 7:02 to play, and it was still a six-point game, 47-41, when Hughes missed a deep trey with 2 1/2 minutes left.

Lucas finally got a runner to fall after a Spartans timeout, and the hosts held on down the stretch at the foul line.

Offense was tough to come by in the first half. Trailing, 8-7, in the early portion of the game, the Badgers went scoreless for roughly six minutes, though Michigan State netted just seven points during that stretch.

Delvon Roe’s three-point play made it 15-7 with less than eight minutes left, which served as the Spartans’ second to last field goal in the half.

Wisconsin made a woeful 7-of-25 from the field in the opening 20 minutes but trailed just 22-20 thanks to Michigan State’s 7-for-24 effort.

The Spartans next play at Iowa on Saturday, the same day the Badgers host unbeaten Purdue…Michigan State improved to 9-0 at home…The Spartans own a 68-58 series lead over the Badgers…Lucas ended with 10 points…Michigan State wound up shooting 38.1 percent from the field, compared to 34.0 percent for Wisconsin.