No. 17 Michigan State beats San Jose State 79-60, sets up matchup with No. 9 Kentucky in New York

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Jaxon Kohler had 17 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, Jeremy Fears scored a career-high 15 points and had nine assists, and No. 17 Michigan State beat San Jose State 79-60 on Thursday night.

Michigan State (3-0) led by 23 points at halftime with Carson Cooper scoring 12 of his 17 points. The home team had a lackluster start of the second half and struggled to shoot before pulling away late in the game after Fears made a pair of 3-pointers and set Coen Carr up for an alley-oop dunk.

San Jose State (0-3) scored the first eight points of the second half and later pulled within 10 points, but couldn’t get closer.

Garland Colby scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half, shooting 6 for 10 while the rest of San Jose State’s team was 3 of 20 from the field. Moundi Yaphet had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the visitors.

Michigan State’s Kur Teng scored all of his 10 points in the first half, when he made 2 of 4 3-pointers and his teammates were 0 of 6 beyond the arc. Tom Izzo’s team finished 6 for 25 on 3-pointers, a game after missing 13 of 14 3-pointers in a win over then-No. 14 Arkansas.

Carr had eight points, five assists and provided a boost for his team and the fans with a series of dunks.