Michigan State basketball was in the giving mood on Christmas.
No. 9 Wisconsin scored 24 points off 14 turnovers as the 11th-ranked Spartans crumbled, 85-76, on Friday in East Lansing to drop to 0-2 to open Big Ten play.
D’Mitrik Trice, brother of former MSU star Travis, had 20 of his season-high 29 points in the second half to lead the Badgers (8-1, 2-0 Big Ten) to their first win at Breslin Center since 2004.
After finishing nonconference play perfect, MSU (6-2, 0-2) faces Minnesota at 8 p.m. on Monday. It’s chances for a fourth straight Big Ten regular-season title is evaporating, after losing the first Christmas Day game in the program’s 122-season history.
Wisconsin closed on a 14-7 run over the final four-plus minutes. Trice delivered a full-court assist for a Jonathan Davis layup to go up 77-69 with 1:40 to play, after Aleem Ford’s behind-the-back save to keep the ball in play.
Wisconsin native Joey Hauser scored a career high 27 points with seven rebounds for the Spartans. Aaron Henry added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists but committed seven turnovers.
Nate Reuvers, scoreless in the first half, scored eight points and had a key block in the second half for Wisconsin. Ford added 13 points before fouling out, and Micah Potter and Brad Davison combined for 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The Badgers committed four turnovers in the first two-plus minutes, but the Spartans failed to capitalize beyond Thomas Kithier’s opening layup. Wisconsin turned it over just once more in the half.
Meanwhile, MSU started to hand it over as the Badgers settled down. The Spartans gave it away seven times in a 10-minute span in the mid-portion of the period, leading to 14 Wisconsin points. However, both teams shot the ball well in the half and neither could pull away by more than five, courtesy of an 8-0 Badgers run that included back-to-back 3-pointers from Potter and Ford, both off MSU turnovers.
The Spartans answered late in the half, with Hauser scoring seven of his 11 first-half points in the final 5:38. His two free throws with 43.4 seconds before the break tied the game.
Davison drained a 3-pointer over Foster Loyer with about 18 seconds left, but Loyer answered at the other end just before time expired to send the teams into intermission tied, 42-42.
The Spartans shot 58.6% in the opening half, the Badgers 53.6%. Their 84 combined points were the most in a first half between the two schools in 52 meetings over the past 25 years, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
MSU sustained its momentum out of halftime with the first nine points, including a Joshua Langford 3-pointer and Hauser free throws to give the Spartans a 51-42 lead just 3:35 into the period.
That’s when Trice came alive.
The fifth-year senior, with his brother and parents among those allowed inside Breslin for the first time this season, snapped MSU’s 12-0 streak with a 3-pointer. Then he followed with a midrange jumper, a four-point play courtesy of Langford’s third foul, another layup and two free throws. He had 13 points in a little over a four-minute spurt to pull the Badgers back in front, 57-56.
The teams traded leads from there, before Wisconsin finally got Reuvers going with six straight points in a 10-1 run to rebuild a five-point lead with 6:19 remaining.
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