A young Hillsdale College men's basketball team got a valuable lesson in its exhibition contest on Wednesday night, taking on one of the best teams in the country in fourth-ranked Michigan State and falling to the Spartans in an 85-43 contest in East Lansing.
Against an extremely talented team that started five seniors, Hillsdale fell behind early, 18-3, and couldn't dig out of that hole as Michigan State showed why they're among the favorites to win the NCAA Division I national title in 2023-24 with a dominant performance at both ends of the floor.
Although the Chargers couldn't keep up with the Spartans, Hillsdale continued to battle to the final whistle, recording 17 offensive rebounds against one of the top rebounding programs year-in and year-out and nearly equalling Michigan State in total rebounds, with 42 to the Spartans' 46.
Hillsdale just couldn't make those second chances pay off against a tough Spartans defense, shooting just 25% from the floor and 16.7% from 3-point range against a tall, athletic and physical team.
In his first time in the starting lineup, sophomore Walt Mattingly led Hillsdale in scoring, with nine points and four rebounds, as well as going 2 for 3 from 3-point range. Junior Joe Reuter chipped in seven points and a team-high eight rebounds, including four offensive rebounds, and junior Cole McWhinnie added seven points, three rebounds and three assists.
Ten different players scored for the Chargers in the contest as Hillsdale was able to get extended minutes for their entire dressed roster in the contest. In his first action for the Chargers, redshirt freshman C.J. Yarian finished with six points and four rebounds, and Caleb Glaser, Mikey McCollum, Garrett Bolte and Logan Beaston each scored a basket in their college debut.
Hillsdale now has a little over two weeks to its regular season debut at Wayne State on Friday, November 10 to take the lessons learned against the Spartans and continue to get better with a long season of NCAA DII competition ahead.
Photo by Adam Ruff, Icon Sportswire