Cleveland — If any team in this year’s NCAA Tournament knows that a 2-versus-15 matchup isn’t so safe, it’s Michigan State. Nine years after 2016’s upset loss, a Spartans team with equally high aspirations knew what could happen if it entered unfocused. The early parts of Friday’s first-round game against Bryant gave yet another reminder.
It took a career game from Coen Carr (18 points) and a gut check through the first 20 minutes, but No. 2 seed Michigan State opened its March Madness run with an 87-62 win over No. 15 seed Bryant. Michigan State will play No. 10 seed New Mexico (26-7) in a second-round matchup on Sunday night; tipoff is at approximately 8:40.
Bryant (23-12) came out hot, jumping out to a 5-0 lead off an opening 3-pointer and a layup. Michigan State found its first points at the free-throw line, where Jaden Akins split his shots. But Akins soon gave Michigan State a rhythm, pulling up for a transition 3 to get the lid off after four straight misses to start the game.
Even as Michigan State (28-6) got to its tenets, Bryant hung around. The Spartans’ vaunted transition game got out and ran, but that came with a lot of empty trips. Some of those happened on missed shots, and others came on missed free throws. Michigan State shot 6-for-11 from the line in the first half, leaving points on the table.
It was those little details that kept Michigan State from pulling ahead. A travel here, a charge there. Carr and Frankie Fidler knocked into each other on a lob play. The culprit of high blood pressure in the first half was the little details that should be ironed out this time of year. Ones that can prove costly.
Time and time again, Michigan State turned to Coen Carr. His 15-point first half was the lifeblood of an offense that struggled to finish. Five times, his hand tied the game or took the lead. With dunks and leaping layups, the Spartans’ X-factor off the bench kept coming up with answers.
▶ BOX SCORE: Michigan State vs. Bryant
Bryant kept hanging around, even as star guard Earl Timberlake left the game for a spell midway through the half. A rebound scramble against Carson Cooper left him bloodied, leaving the bench until around five minutes remained in the half. With a bandage on the right corner of his forehead, Timberlake checked back in at 4:06, right after Carr stretched to the rim for an and-one layup and a 26-24 lead. As part of a 10-0 run that took over the game, Michigan State rode that to a 33-28 lead by halftime.
When the Spartans returned, Carr found himself in the starting lineup. Szymon Zapala, the usual starting center, wasn’t on the bench. He joined just before a Bryant timeout as back-to-back threes — one each from Fears and Akins — pushed the lead to nine points. Zapala didn’t take the court in the second half.
Bryant’s timeout sought to settle the game, but Carr kept taking it over. Off a Richardson miss, he dunked the loose ball right over top of Timberlake. The bucket gave Carr his career high scoring in textbook fashion, and later he set a career high with nine rebounds. The dunk also gave the Spartans a 44-33 lead with 16:40 to play.
The next five minutes, Bryant brought the game back down to a six-point difference, but that didn’t last long. The Spartans took 3s by volume, with Akins, Fears and Tre Holloman all in on the action from deep. Fouls from a tiring-out Bryant squad gave Michigan State an edge, too, and this time 9-of-10 free throws fell. As Michigan State found a double-digit cushion, a crowd 17,392 strong cheered largely in the Spartans’ favor.
In the final eight minutes, Michigan State stretched its lead to as much as 24 points, a comfortable margin after an uncomfortable beginning. Wins don’t come easy in March, even for heavy favorites.
The win marks the fourth straight tournament in which Michigan State has won its first-round game. A First Four loss in 2021 and that 2-versus-15 upset in 2016 are the only losses in the Spartans’ past 18 tournament appearances.
With Michigan State’s win, the 2025 tournament field is the first since 2017 to see every four seed win its first-round matchup. That’s only happened six times since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, and once since the introduction of the First Four in 2011.
@ConnorEaregood
