Coen Carr scored 18 points and pulled down six rebounds as No. 12 Michigan State rolled to an 80-51 win over USC in East Lansing, Mich., on Monday night.
Jaxon Kohler supplied 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Jeremy Fears Jr. contributed 15 points and seven assists for the Spartans. Kur Teng and Jordan Scott added eight points apiece for Michigan State (13-2 overall, 3-1 Big Ten), which bounced back from a two-point road loss to undefeated Nebraska.
Ezra Ausar led USC with 16 points and seven rebounds, but he also made seven turnovers. Jerry Easter II had 12 points, but Chad Baker-Mazara, the team’s top offensive threat, was held to four points.
The Trojans (12-3, 1-3) were coming off a 30-point loss Friday to Michigan to begin their three-game road trip. They’ll visit Minnesota on Friday to finish off the Midwest journey.
Michigan State led USC 33-17 at the break, limited the Trojans to 21.4% shooting and forced nine turnovers.
USC scored the first five points of the game. From there, the Spartans dominated the last 17 minutes of the half. They scored 10 unanswered points, four by Carson Cooper, before USC got another basket.
The Spartans soon turned a 13-9 advantage into a 19-point advantage with a 20-5 run. Fears got it started by making consecutive jumpers. Kohler hit back-to-back 3-pointers and also assisted on a Divine Ugochukwu layup following a Trojans turnover to finish off the outburst.
A three-point play by Carr and a Fears basket after another USC turnover pushed Michigan State’s lead to 21, 44-23, with 17:24 remaining.
Moments later, Fears made a behind-the-back pass to Teng for a fast-break layup. A Fears layup with 14:38 left gave the Spartans a 52-28 lead. A Denham Wojcik steal and layup nudged the advantage to 25.
