No. 23 Wisconsin wins at Michigan State to open Big Ten play

Field Level MediaField Level Media|published: Tue 5th December, 21:00 2023
Michigan State's Tyson Walker moves to the basket before scoring against Wisconsin during the first half on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. credits: Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

AJ Storr had 22 points and No. 23 Wisconsin opened up its Big Ten season with a 70-57 victory over host Michigan State on Tuesday in East Lansing, Mich.

Steven Crowl supplied 18 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Badgers (7-2, 1-0), who were coming off an upset of Marquette. John Blackwell added 10 points and Tyler Wahl chipped in eight points and eight rebounds.

Tyson Walker topped the Spartans (4-4, 0-1) with 22 points. A.J. Hoggard was the only other Michigan State player in double figures with 14 points along with seven assists.

Wisconsin controlled the boards, outrebounding the Spartans 36-22 while scoring 19 second-chance points.

Storr and Crowl combined for 23 points as Wisconsin took a 34-23 halftime lead. None of the Spartans had more than four points.

The Spartans started the game 1-for-8 from the field as the Badgers jumped to an 11-2 lead.


A 3-pointer by Tre Holloman cut the Badgers' lead to five before Storr went on a personal 7-0 run for a 20-8 Wisconsin advantage.

Walker's layup with 7:16 left in the half cut the Badgers' lead to seven. With 2:26 remaining, Hoggard scored after a Badgers turnover to make it 28-23.

Michigan State then went silent the rest of the half while Crowl knocked down a 3-pointer and Storr hit another from deep with one second left.

The Badgers' lead fluctuated between eight and 13 points early in the second half until Michigan State had a 12-4 spurt to make it a three-point game. Walker, who shot 2-for-8 in the first half, drained three 3-pointers during that span to trim it to 49-46.

With the score 54-50, Wisconsin scored nine consecutive points to nudge its advantage into double digits again. Storr had a 3-pointer and a layup during that stretch. Wahl finished it off with another layup.

Walker hit a jumper to end the Spartans' drought but they couldn't mount another threat.

—Field Level Media

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