MSU runs away from Cats, rebounds return
The Spartans and Shannon Brown put on a show for his hometown crowd as MSU put away Northwestern 77-66 and lit up the crowd with a season’s worth of highlight reel dunks. Brown scored 22 points to lead all scorers and reached the 1,000 point plateau for his career at MSU. Maurice Ager had a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Tom Izzo was particularly happy to have back a healthy Paul Davis and his 16 points according to the Lansing State Journal.
After Friday’s session, Davis was cleared to start, but the Spartans weren’t sure how much he’d be able to go. If not for foul trouble, Davis might have played more than 26 minutes.
“He’s our presence (inside), and if we don’t have him we probably don’t win this game,” said Brown, who made nine of 14 shots and added eight rebounds.
“He did some good things and some uncharacteristic Paul things,” Izzo said of Davis. “Considering he didn’t play for a week, I thought he sucked it up and played pretty good.”
MSU enjoyed a 40-24 edge in rebounding against the Wildcats which has been an area of recent concern. According to this game notebook from the LSJ, MSU’s guards proved to be a difference on the boards.
Izzo challenged his team, and the two players who responded best were guards Maurice Ager and Shannon Brown. Ager had 11 rebounds and Brown eight to lead MSU.
“We just put an emphasis on it,” Ager said. “We’re trying to be a complete team.”
Add in reserve point guard Travis Walton’s five boards, and MSU’s guards had 24 of the team’s 40. Senior center Paul Davis, back from a head injury, had seven, including a game-high four offensive boards.
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