Kylan Boswell leads Arizona Wildcats to 40-30 halftime lead over Michigan State

THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. – Kylan Boswell continued his hot-shooting ways by scoring 12 first-half points on 5-for-11 shooting to help Arizona take a 40-30 halftime lead over Michigan State on Thursday at Acrisure Arena.

Boswell, who made 2 of 5 3-pointers, entered Thursday’s game shooting 64.9% (24-37) from the field, 68.2% (15-22) from the 3-point line.

Arizona enjoyed a double-digit lead for much of the first half by holding Michigan State to just 38.7% shooting while the Wildcats shot 51.6%. While the Spartans made a late push at the end of the half to cut UA's lead to just seven points, Caleb Love hit a 3-pointer with one second left before the halftime buzzer.

While Boswell had 12 points, two rebounds and three assists, Love and Keshad Johnson had seven points each for the Wildcats in the half. Tyson Walker led MSU with 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting.

The Wildcats pulled away quickly early in the first half, taking a 10-4 lead after Johnson and Pelle Larsson both scored after MSU turnovers, Johnson taking a steal from MSU’s A.J. Hoggard and racing in for a dunk.

UA later received 3-pointers from Johnson and Boswell on successive possessions to take a 21-7 lead with 10:15 left, prompting an MSU timeout. Boswell later after fed Larsson for a layup and, after he was fouled, Larsson turned it into a three-point play to give UA a 24-10 lead with 8:29 left.

Michigan State cut UA’s lead to 34-23 when Walker hit a 3-pointer but Boswell responded with a 3 of his own to put the Wildcats back up by 14.

Arizona hasn’t lost a game in November under coach Tommy Lloyd since he took over the Wildcats before the 2021-22 season, a total of 15 games entering Thursday.