Michigan State downs Nebraska

Lincoln, NE – Draymond Green scored 19 points and pulled down 55, on Saturday.

Keith Appling scored 14 points for the Spartans (13-2, 2-0 Big 10), who have won 13 straight games and start 2-0 in the Big 10 for the fifth straight year.

Bo Spencer scored 15 points and Toney McCray added 14 points and six rebounds for Nebraska (8-5, 0-2), which has lost two in a row to start conference play.

After Brandon Ubel nailed a jumper to make it 28-21 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the first half, the Spartans closed on a 9-2 run to pull within 30-29 after the opening 20 minutes.

Michigan State continued to build on its momentum in the second half.

All in all, it was a 19-5 run by the Spartans in between the first and second stanza as Michigan State took a 40-32 advantage with under sixteen minutes to go in the game.

The Huskers, though, did not go away.

After a Branden Dawson jumper gave the Spartans a 53-39 lead, Nebraska countered with an 11-0 run, capped by a Spencer three-pointer to make it a 53-50 game with under nine minutes to go.

But a pair of Appling buckets quickly pushed the advantage back to seven and the Huskers didn't have another big run in them as the Spartans hung on.

McCray netted six points and Spencer nailed a three-pointer to give Nebraska a quick 12-4 lead five minutes into the game.

Game Notes

This was the first meeting between the schools as Big 10 opponents...The win gave Michigan State its first undefeated December since 2007...The Huskers defeated the Spartans, 96-91, in an overtime thriller the last time these two teams met.