Michigan St. Spartans vs Wisconsin Badgers Match Player Stats On Feb 01, 2020

Nate Reuvers had 13 of his 15 points in the first half as short-handed Wisconsin built a big lead early and then held on to knock off No. 14 Michigan State 64-63 on Saturday afternoon in Madison, Wis.

The Badgers (13-9, 6-5 Big Ten) won despite playing without two starters in the backcourt, as junior Brad Davison was suspended by the conference for a flagrant foul committed in the previous game against Iowa while sophomore Kobe King left the program earlier in the week.

Reuvers was 5 of 9 from the field and 2 of 3 from 3-point range, personally outscoring Michigan State 13-11 through the first 12:25 of the game. The Badgers led 43-27 at halftime after leading by as many as 19.

Michigan State (16-6, 8-3) trailed by 18 early in the second half before going on a 13-0 run to pull within 48-43 with 12:45 left. Wisconsin went nearly 6 1/2 minutes without scoring, shooting only 25 percent in the second half after hitting 57.7 percent of its shots in the first half. The Badgers finished at 40.7.

The Spartans trailed 50-47 with 11:22 to go before Wisconsin scored seven in a row to build back a cushion, but a 3-pointer by Kyle Ahrens got Michigan State within 61-57 with 4:33 left. MSU missed its next six shots, however, only making the final margin look closer thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Cassius Winston in the final 6.8 seconds.

Winston had 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting and freshman Rocket Watts had a career-high 16 points for Michigan State, which shot 39.7 percent. Xavier Tillman, who was shooting 55 percent in Big Ten play, was just 3 of 15 from the field for seven points to go with 14 rebounds and five assists.

D'Mitrik Trice had 14 and Aleem Ford added 13 for Wisconsin, which won despite not making a field goal over the final 7:27.

--Field Level Media