November 25, 2022: Prior to leaving for Portland, OR for the tipoff of the PK85 against Alabama, Michigan State suffered two huge losses to injuries - Malik Hall, and Jaden Akins. Akins was sidelined after the Villanova game where he sustained a new injury to his previously injured foot that is not deemed serious but will be rested for a few games. Unfortunately, Malik Hall had a non-operative stress reaction injury to his foot in practice on Monday which will keep him out of action for about 3 weeks.

Despite those key losses in personnel, the Spartans battled hard and managed to compete with Alabama in the first half mostly due to the scoring from Tyson Walker. However, the second half saw a few more shots miss for MSU and Alabama got a little hot from 3 allowing them to pull away. Freshman Brandon Miller led the way for the Crimson Tide with 24 points and 9 rebounds.

Bright spots to the game included the extended minutes to freshmen Jaxon Kohler, Tre Hollomam, and Carson Cooper who all showed signs of progression from the start of the season. Pierre Brooks played 33 minutes and showed some signs of great play logging 9 rebounds with 4 offensive but also looked lost on defensive assignments against a team that was prepared to punish defensive lapses.

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