March Madness

Michigan State Comes Back Late Against Davidson, Will Play Duke Next

No. 7 Michigan State rallied late in the second half vs. No. 10 Davidson, setting up a Tom Izzo-Mike Krzyzewski matchup in the second round

USA TODAY

Things looked murky for No. 7 Michigan State late in the second half against No. 10 Davidson, but the Spartans came back to secure a 74-73 win.

After Michigan State led 32-31 through the first half, Davidson took a 56-51 lead with both squads exchanging buckets in a narrow back-and-forth affair.

With under seven minutes to go, Michigan State needed a spark to reclaim the momentum. They got that through Josh Hauser and A.J. Hoggard, who made timely buckets en route to a 10-0 run that saw the Spartans flip the score to 61-56.

Michigan State would later lead by as much as eight points with just under a minute to play, but Davidson kept fighting. 

Luka Brajkovic and Foster Loyer each made clutch 3-pointers to keep Davidson within striking distance, and Hyunjung Lee nailed another 3 to make it a one-point game with 0.5 seconds remaining. 

However, Davidson failed to watch for the deep pass on the inbounds play and did not have another shot at potentially winning the game. 

Hauser led all scorers with 27 points. He shot 9-of-12 overall, including a 4-of-6 clip from long distance. 

Tom Izzo’s team now advances to play Mike Krzyzewski’s No. 2-seeded Duke on Sunday. Two legendary basketball coaches will go at it in what could be Coach K’s final game.

Contact Us