Michigan State basketball has no problem with Oakland, rolling to 72-49 win

Make it 18-0.

No. 15 Michigan State basketball used an interior advantage and its deep rotation to craft big scoring runs while relying on its defense to knock out Oakland, 72-49, on Saturday in front of 18,145 fans at Little Caesars Arena.

Twelve different Spartans scored, including six of them netting between seven and 10 points each, led by Aaron Henry’s 10. The Golden Grizzlies (5-6) shot just 26.2% (17 of 65) and was behind by as many as 29.

MSU coach Tom Izzo has never lost to Oakland’s Greg Kampe in the 18 meetings since the series began in 1998.

Cassius Winston, Xavier Tillman and Gabe Brown each scored nine and Thomas Kithier had eight for the Spartans (7-3), who resume Big Ten play at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Northwestern (BTN).

Shaky to strong

Things started rough for the Spartans, who had finals all week and hadn’t played since last Sunday’s 77-65 home win over Rutgers to open Big Ten play.

Oakland also struggled as well, but the Golden Grizzlies had a 7-1 rebounding edge in the first 3½ minutes. MSU had two early turnovers and missed its first four shots and trailed briefly, 6-4.

It didn’t take long for the Spartans to settle into a groove, though, beginning to run hard in transition as coach Tom Izzo had demanded during practice this week.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Winston and Kyle Ahrens sparked a 26-7 run to close the half that included a 12-0 burst within it.

MSU finished 44.8% from the field and a 14-4 fastbreak scoring advantage, but they struggled again from long distance. The Spartans made just 7 of 33 3-point attempts (21.2%). Brown was 0 for 5 from deep, while Winston went 1 for 9 behind the arc and 3 of 13 overall. 

Glass work

Kithier scored all of his points in the first half and also grabbed six rebounds. Tillman had a game-high 13 boards, while Brown added six and Ahrens and Conner George each snagged five.

Despite their slow start on the boards, MSU finished with a 54-31 rebounding edge.

Xavier Hill-Mais led Oakland with 10 points and seven rebounds, but he made just 5 of 20 shots with the Spartans’ interior defenders bodying him up all afternoon.

MSU also had a dominating 36-20 scoring advantage inside. Tillman and Kithier combined to go 8-for-8.

Contact Chris Solari at csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.