College Basketball: Michigan State 'comes through' against No. 17 Indiana in emotional home court return

Playing its first home game, on Tuesday night, since a fatal shooting incident which took three students' lives, the Michigan State Spartans came through and won 80-65 against the No. 17 Indiana Hoosiers. Tyson Walker's 23 points helped the Spartans win the game during an emotional return to their home court. Before the game, coach Tom Izzo's eyes welled up as he addressed the crowd and hoped to 'come through for them.' "It was one of those moments where I just said, 'I'm a lucky guy,'" an emotional Izzo said to the crowd. "I said to myself, 'I hope we can come through for you.'"

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Spartans' top scorer Walker also echoed the same sentiments as Izzo as he made sure that his coach's promise holds up. "It was definitely emotional," he said. "Everybody was involved in some way because everybody's on campus. So, it was definitely good to go out there and play well for everybody."

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Michigan State took the lead in the game in the first half only after Walker shook off an 0-for-4 start from field and started draining three-pointers. The Spartans didn't look back after that and stayed ahead by double digits most of the time in the second half. Indiana coach Mike Woodson also accepted that the Spartans played better on the night. "Izzo's teams play great. They play hard," Woodson said. "They force you to play hard. If you don't meet that, you're going to lose," he added.

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The Spartans are now 17-10 overall and 9-7 in Big Ten after the win, while the Hoosiers are 19-9 overall and 10-7 in the conference. For Indiana, Trayce Jackson-Davis scored the most points as per usual. Jackson-Davis scored 19 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists against the Spartans. Michigan's last home game against Minnesota was postponed after the shooting and they had lost their first game since the incident against their in-state foes Michigan Wolverines.

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