The No. 17 Michigan State Spartans knocked off No. 12 Kentucky 83-66 in the Champions Classic Monday night. It's the second straight year the Wildcats have lost big in New York's Madison Square Garden.
The game was fast paced early on with both teams not stretching out the shot clock. The Wildcats took a 15-12 advantage with 14:26 to go on a lay-up by Collin Chandler. It remained a three point lead when a steal led to a Mo Dioubate slam dunk to put the Cats up 17-14.
Then, the Spartans went on a 9-0 scoring run that ended with with Kur Teng hitting a jumper to put Michigan State in front 23-17. After an Otega Oweh three pointer, the Spartans rattled off eight straight points with Coen Carr hitting one of two free throws and Michigan State led it 32-20.
Kentucky ended the first half hitting just one of its final 12 shots and didn't score in the final 2:36. Michigan State took a 44-27 lead into the locker room at the half thanks to shooting 52% from the field to UK's 28%. The Spartans also outrebounded Kentucky 24-14. Denzel Aberdeen led the way with 9 points at the break while Chandler added 7 points and Oweh had 5.
Michigan State came out for the second half and didn't let up.
Kentucky got it down to a 13 point deficit on a steal that led to Dioubate getting another slam. 50-37 Spartans were in front. The Wildcats were able to cut it to 14 at 58-44 with 12:03 to play when Jasper Johnson scored as he was fouled and hit the free throw. Kam Williams got a steal and slam to cut the lead to 58-48 but the Spartans quickly answered. Johnson also cut it to 10 with 9:37 to play off a second-chance lay-up.
The Spartans woke up after that and went on a 16-6 run to push the lead back out to 20 points and it was over after that.
Kentucky falls 83-66 to drop to 3-2 on the season. The Wildcats were led by Oweh's 12 points but it was on just 4-12 shooting from the field. Aberdeen, Chandler and Dioubate added 10 points each. The Wildcats were out-rebounded 42-28 while shooting 35% overall and just 23% from behind the three point line.
Kentucky returns home to Rupp arena on Friday to play Loyola, MD. Tip off is set for 7:00 PM and can be seen streaming on the SEC Network Plus.
