With Magic in stands, Miles Bridges dazzles, MSU wins, 100-53
Magic Johnson couldn’t help himself from leaping out of his seat.
That’s how exciting Miles Bridges is. Drive after drive, shot after shot, dunk after dunk.
“Unbelievable. Unbelievable,” NBA Hall of Famer and MSU legend Johnson said outside the Spartans’ locker room, mimicking Bridges’ ball-handling skills.
The opponent wasn’t Arizona or Kentucky or Duke. Didn’t matter. Michigan State’s latest freshman phenom wowed the hometown hero, his own family and the rest of the Breslin Center crowd Friday night.
Bridges finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a couple more highlight real dunks in a 100-53 victory over Mississippi Valley State. And then he beamed like a child after hearing what his “idol” Johnson – who addressed the team following the win – said about the 13th-ranked Spartans’ burgeoning star after the game.
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“He just told me to keep working, that I’m going to be special here,” Bridges said. “And just keep my teammates involved. If one eats, we all eat.”
It was an offensive buffet for the Spartans (1-2), who vented some frustrations after dropping games to Arizona and Kentucky in the season’s first week.
Maligned guards Eron Harris and Matt McQuaid, who struggled shooting in the first two losses, both made five three-pointers, with senior Harris scoring 19 points and sophomore McQuaid 15. Forward Nick Ward added 18 points and eight rebounds, while fellow freshman Cassius Winston had 11 assists.
Despite missing its first six shots, MSU shot 57% for the game, including 16 of 28 on three-pointers – one shy of the school record. The Spartans also had 33 assists on 39 baskets and rebounded 12 of its 20 misses on the offensive boards.
“We had great ball movement,” Harris said. “Everybody got shots, everybody did their job. We got it inside, we got it outside. It was a great game.”
One of the few negatives in the game was the continued physical struggles of guard Joshua Langford, whose left hamstring injury visibly is affecting his lateral quickness. MSU coach Tom Izzo said he is “concerned” seeing the freshman “dragging” his leg and said team doctors will re-examine and reassess his status.
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“He’s not there yet, I mean, there’s no question about it,” Izzo said. “That’s what the medical people are going to have to decide, along with Josh, along with me.”
MSU still appeared woozy from Tuesday’s 69-48 thumping by No. 2 Kentucky in the Champions Classic in New York. Mississippi Valley State (0-4) hung within a bucket, 16-14, midway through the first half by playing turnover-free basketball and forcing the Spartans into four.
Then MSU shook its haze.
Harris opened a 32-9 run with a three-pointer from the left corner, his first of three in the half. Bridges took over from there, getting 19 of his 21 points in the half between the 10-minute mark and the 2-minute mark of the period. The 6-foot-7 freshman from Flint made 10 of 11 shots – including three dunks – and grabbed five rebounds by halftime.
“That 8-minute stretch was remarkable, to say the least,” Izzo said of Bridges.
After a McQuaid three-pointer put MSU up 15 with 3:30 left before half, Bridges delivered some more fireworks.
First, he drove through the lane and threw down a vicious tomahawk dunk – his waist was above 6-10 MVSU defender Jamal Watson’s head. Bridges drew contact on another layup to get to the line for the and-one. He missed the free throw, chased down his own rebound in the right corner, then drove the baseline and went up-and-under for the reverse jam.
Johnson sprung to his feet along with the rest of the Breslin crowd, which erupted with chants of “Miles Bridges!”
“It is surreal when they start chanting your name, a whole bunch of people,” Bridges said after his first meaningful game in his home state since his freshman year at Flint Southwestern Academy in 2013. “My family came up to see me play, so had a really great time in my first game.”
Harris hit a three-pointer and Ward converted a three-point play to send the Spartans into the locker room up, 48-23. They went on to rip off a 20-6 stretch to open the first six minutes of the second half to pull away even further.
“We did not conquer Rome or anything,” Izzo said, “but we took a step in the right direction.”
Ronald Strother had 12 points and Amos Given 10 for MVSU.
MSU hosts Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday (7 p.m./Big Ten Network) at Breslin. It’s their first game in the Battle 4 Atlantis, which continues Wednesday against St. John’s in Nassau, Bahamas.
Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@chrissolari.
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