University Park, Pa. – Graduate forward Malik Hall scored 20 of his career-high 29 points in the second half as Michigan State's men's basketball team opened up a 14-point lead at the half en route to an 80-72 win over Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday night.

Hall hit 10-of-13 shots from the floor and all eight of his free throw attempts, while adding 10 rebounds for his second double-double this season.

Junior guard Jaden Akins scored 20 points, including 16 in the first half, while sophomore center Carson Cooper tied his career-high with 10 points and grabbed four rebounds.

Records
Michigan State, winners of its last two games and seven of its last nine, improves to 16-9 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten Conference, while Penn State falls to 12-13 overall and 6-8 in league play.
Recap

• Michigan State led by 14 points (45-31) at the break, but twice Penn State cut the lead to eight points, the latter after free throws from Ace Baldwin Jr. made it 58-50 with 10:21 left in the game.
• The Spartans responded with six-straight points as Hall book-ended two free throws each around a layup from graduate guard Tyson Walker and MSU pushed the lead to 64-50 with 8:50 left.
• The lead was back to 11 points, 66-55, before Hall scored 7-straight points, hitting a 3-pointer and a pair of jumpers, the latter with 4:21 left to give the Spartans a 73-57 lead.
• Hall capped off his career night with three free throws with 48 seconds left to make it 80-66 before the Nittany Lions hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds.
• The Spartans had jumped out to the 14-point halftime lead (45-31) thanks in large part to Akins, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the opening frame, hitting 6-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-6 from 3-point land.
• Penn State took an early 7-2 lead, but the Spartans responded with a 14-3 run and took a 16-10 lead with Cooper scoring six of his 10 points during that stretch.
• A jumper from Cooper extended the MSU lead to 30-18 at the 6:33 mark, forcing Penn State to call a timeout.
• Akins hit back-to-back 3-pointers and freshman forward Xavier Booker hit a trey and a layup to cap an 11- 6 burst as the Spartans took their biggest lead of the game, 43-26, with 2:29 to play in the half, forcing another Penn State timeout.

• Michigan State shot 50.8 percent from the floor (30-of-59), including 56.3 percent in the first half (18-of-32).
• The Spartans had a 33-23 advantage in rebounding, grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and scored 15 second chance points.
• Michigan State hit 87.5 percent of its free throw (14-of-16), including Hall going 8-of-8 and Cooper hitting all four attempts.
• The Spartans forced 15 turnovers by Penn State and scored 20 points off of those.
• MSU received 18 points from its bench.

• Michigan State leads the all-time series with Penn State, 45-10, including an 18-5 record on the road.
• MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo is now 38-9 all-time against the Nittany Lions in his career.
• Izzo now has a career record of 703-289.
• Izzo has a 341-166 career record in Big Ten games.
• Izzo coached his 507th Big Ten regular season game, extending his record for most regular season games coached in league history.
• The Spartans won their second Big Ten road game of the season (2-5).
• Michigan State is 15-2 when leading at the half.
• MSU is 8-0 when shooting above 50 percent from the field (30-of-59, 50.8%).
• MSU is 21-6 when holding its opponent below 50 percent shooting (24-of-53, 45.3%).
• The Spartans are 15-2 when out-shooting their opponent (50.8% to 45.3%).
• Michigan State is 11-2 when out-rebounding its opponent (33-23).
• The Spartans are 14-4 when forcing more turnovers (MSU 11, Penn State 15).
• MSU is now 4-3 in games decided by 6-10 points.
• The Spartans connected on 87.5 percent of their free throws, the team's second-best percentage this season.
• MSU is 9-0 when scoring 80 or more points and 14-3 when scoring at least 70.
• Malik Hall scored a career-high 29 points, his 16th game in double figures this season and the 49th of his career.
  • He has scored at least 20 points four times this season and six in his career.
  • Hall has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 13 games.
  • He also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and had his second double-double of the season and the third of his career.
  • He now has 1,118 career points and is 43th all-time at Michigan State … He moved past Bill Kilgore (1970-73), Joshua Langford (2016-21) and Al Ferrari (1952-53) and needs 18 points to move past Travis Trice for 42nd place.
• Jaden Akins scored 20 points, his 18th game in double figures this year and the 31st of his career.
  • This was his third game with at least 20 points this season the fourth of his career.
  • Akins has now scored 699 career points at Michigan State.
• Carson Cooper tied his career-high of 10 points, set early this year at Northwestern.
• A.J. Hoggard handed out a team-high five assists, leading the team for the 17th time this season and the 69th time of his career.
  • Hoggard now has 555 career assists and is tied for 8th place all-time at MSU with Travis Walton (2005-09) and needs four more to pass Kalin Lucas (2007-11) for 7th place.
  • Hoggard scored 4 points and now has 1,037 career points and needs 18 points to pass Marcus Sanders (1962-65) for 52nd all-time.
• Tyson Walker scored 6 points and had a streak of 35-straight games scoring in double figures dating back to last year end.
  • Walker now has 1,242 career points at MSU and is 32nd all-time in scoring at Michigan State … He needs one point to pass Stan Washington (1963-66) for 31st all-time.
  • Walker has scored 1,922 points in 144 career games (13.3 ppg).
  • Walker grabbed a career-high six rebounds.

Up Next
Michigan State plays the second game of a two-game road trip on Saturday, Feb. 17, visiting in-state rival Michigan. The game will air live on FOX, with Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson calling all of the action (8 p.m.).