A hard-fought first half between the No. 21 Michigan State Spartans and No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks ends with a 35-32 Jayhawks lead as the teams head to the locker room in the first game of the Champions Classic at the Georgia Dome.
Gary Harris led all scorers with 11 points for the Spartans while shooting 4 of 6 from the field. He also got to the charity stripe at a good rate, finishing the first half going 3 of 4 from the line. Alex Gauna came off the bench and scored 6 points for the Spartans while Derrick Nix also chipped in half a dozen as well.
The scoring for the Kansas Jayhawks was more spread out with both Elijah Johnson and Ben McLemore putting away 7 points each to share the team lead. Next in line for Kansas was Jamari Traylor with 6 points in the first half.
Both teams were bitten by the turnover bug, especially late in the half. Michigan State went to the locker room with 10 turnovers while Kansas left the floor with 9 turnovers.