Michigan State v Rutgers
Getty Images

No. 8 Michigan State extended its winning streak to 12 games and improved to 8-0 in Big Ten play with an 81-74 win over Rutgers inside Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. The Spartans' tied Duke for the longest active winning streak in the sport with the win and guaranteed it would reach two months since its last loss on the season.

Rutgers started out hot and raced out to a seven-point lead in the opening minutes behind a flurry of scoring from star freshman Ace Bailey, who finished the day with 18 points. But MSU quickly mounted a run of its own to establish control of the game and never looked back.

Michigan State's offense was imperfect in victory but good enough thanks to a stellar defensive outing against the talented Scarlet Knights. Sparty held Bailey, who scored 20 or more points in three consecutive outings entering the day, to 4-of-17 shooting and constantly frustrated the talented projected top-five pick with double teams and length. Its pliability in-game to adjust for Rutgers' plan to run in transition also helped aid in digging out of the early deficit for what turned out to be a comfortable win.

Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper, still recovering from an ankle injury suffered earlier in the week, played just 13 minutes in the loss and was unable to make the same impact he's made when healthy this season.

Bracketology: Big 12 makes its move, matches Big Ten with eight teams behind SEC's 13 in projected field of 68
Jerry Palm
Bracketology: Big 12 makes its move, matches Big Ten with eight teams behind SEC's 13 in projected field of 68

The trio of Jase Richardson, Coen Carr and Jordan Akins, who scored 20, 14 and 12 points, respectively, shouldered a large load in the win. It marked a new career-high for Richardson, the son of former Michigan State star and two-time NBA Dunk Contest champion Jason Richardson, and tied for Carr's second-highest scoring output of the season.

Michigan's loss Friday at Purdue and Michigan State's win inside MSG over Rutgers pushed the Spartans' lead in the Big Ten regular season race to a full game with no other Big Ten team owning fewer than two losses at this point in conference play. The win also pushed Michigan State's winning streak to within one game of its last longest streak, 13 games, which took place in 2018-19.