Michigan State drubs Nebraska-Omaha 110-68
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Draymond Green made a quick recovery from a scary injury and finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead Michigan State past Nebraska-Omaha 110-68 on Sunday.
Green was 10 for 18 from the field for the streaking Spartans (6-2), including 6-for-8 shooting in the first half when he went down in pain under his basket. He returned to the game just three minutes later wearing a left knee wrap.
Backcourt partner Keith Appling added 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 23 minutes. The Spartans shot 61 percent from the field, including 50 percent on 3-pointers.
Brandon Wood had his second straight strong performance, contributing 20 points and six rebounds, as Michigan State ruled the boards 54-16 and matched the sixth-highest point total in school history.
Mitch Albers had 17 points for the Mavericks (3-6), whose busy weekend began with a 77-72 win at Northern Illinois Saturday.
On Sunday, Nebraska-Omaha led 3-0, but that was it as Michigan State was in complete control the rest of the way. It was 59-26 at halftime as the Spartans used a 26-6 run to put it out of reach early.
The Spartans added five quick points to start the second half and led 81-38 before they tried to get fancy and gave the Mavericks some great opportunities.
Michigan State hit the 100-point mark on a layup by Derrick Nix with 6:01 to play and continued its run through the record book with a wide variety of lineups.
Appling would have had an excellent chance to become just the fourth Spartan to record a triple-double if he had played a few more minutes. And Michigan State could have made a run at its top scoring game of 121 points against Morehead State in 1992.
Instead, a lot of Spartans did a lot of things right, only committing 10 turnovers and collecting 35 assists, finishing one assist shy of the record set in a 114-63 win over Michigan in 2000.
Nix and Adreian Payne each had 10 points for the Spartans, while freshmen Branden Dawson and Alex Gauna each had eight. And 10 different players had an assist as Michigan State doubled its scoring output in a season-opening 67-55 loss to North Carolina.
UNO finished with 38 percent accuracy from the field and 36 percent beyond the arc. The Mavericks had just eight turnovers.