The Spartans did one heck of a job, keeping Lobos senior guard Donovan Dent under his scoring average at just 14 points and six assists, forcing four turnovers from him. They also did a solid job of getting senior center Nelly Junior Joseph in foul trouble early in the second half.

Joseph finished with 16 points, giving the Lobos top two scorers a combined total of 30, nearly half the team’s points, in New Mexico’s first-round win over Marquette, the pair combined for 40. The Spartans were not going to completely silence the two, but they did just enough to hold the Lobos off.

Following the win, Spartan head coach Tom Izzo gave praise to his guards and the sensational defense that they played against Dent. The Mountain West’s leading scorer at 20.6 points per game was held six points under that total, directly impacting the Spartans’ win.

“I thought Jeremy [Fears Jr.], Jaden [Akins], and Tre [Holloman] all did a good job on [Donovan] Dent and Dent is a hell of a player,” Izzo said. “But I thought we got our break going when we got our defense going and we rebounded the ball pretty well.

” … That’s a talented, well-coached team, and I’m just happy we got the win, I’m happy we showed a little character after we got down and weren’t playing very well.”