East Lansing – For the opening 20 minutes, the only thing festive about Michigan State’s holiday season battle with Oakland was the attire of the head coaches.
Tom Izzo was in a green sweater with an elf theme while Greg Kampe donned a sleek button-down that said, “Merry Grinchmas” and had a picture of The Grinch.
Besides that, the response to the first half could have been “Bah Humbug” as the teams both struggled, the Golden Grizzlies shooting 30% and the Spartans turning the ball over 11 times.
It picked up in the second half as Michigan State took control early then held off an Oakland rally with the Spartans pulling away for the 67-54 victory at the Breslin Center, improving Michigan State’s mark against Oakland to 21-0.