Malik Hall put up career-best numbers in Michigan State’s 80-72 road win over Penn State on Valentine’s Day.
The Spartans needed an answer during Wednesday’s 80-72 win over Penn State . They led comfortably all night, but the Nittany Lions were knocking on the doors of a comeback all second half. Tyson Walker was struggling, Jaden Akins had cooled off from his impressive first half, and nobody else was playing particularly well in the second half. Enter, Malik Hall.
Hall was the reason Michigan State was able to keep their lead over a surging Penn State team. Without his second half heroics, the Spartans might not have won this game.
Malik Hall career-high
Hall had a very solid first half where he finished with nine points, but it was the second half when he dominated the game. Everyone’s attention was on Akins after he scored 16 points in the first half, but Hall one-upped him by scoring 20 points in the second half alone. This was good enough for a career-high 29 points.
On top of the career high, Hall also secured 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Finally, to make Hall’s game even more impressive, he shot an extremely efficient 10-for-13 from the field, 1-for-1 from 3-point range, and 8-for-8 from the free throw line. A stat line really doesn’t get much better than that.
Both head coaches also had positive things to say about Malik after game. Tom Izzo said that he was “very proud” of Hall’s performance. Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades said “Hall was a beast today. He was amazing. We just didn’t have an answer for him. He may not be an All-American, but he’s pretty darn good.”
You won’t ever hear an opposing head coach give more praise than that for an opposing player.
Can Malik keep it going?
This is now the question that is on everyone’s minds. Hall has finished in double figures in nine of his last 10 games, including 22 and 29 points in the Spartans’ last two games. We shouldn’t expect that many points from him every night, but can we rely on him to score 13-15 points each night?
At this point I think we can. And if MSU is going to go on a run this postseason, Hall is going to have to keep scoring. The Spartans are in desperate need of a reliable second scoring option to pair with Tyson, and it appears Hall is that guy for MSU now. Jaden Akins is also becoming that guy as well, but I’m still hesitant to deem him as super reliable because a lot of his volume is from the 3-point line.
The sky is the limit for this team if Hall keeps this production up. Especially if Tyson can get back to scoring 20 a night, we might be in for something special next month.
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