EAST LANSING, Mich. — No. 12 Michigan State improved to 15-2 on the season with its home victory over Penn State on Wednesday, remaining undefeated at the Breslin Center and in Big Ten play.

Yet again, the Spartans were unable to put together a full 40 minutes, as they were outscored in the second half after leading by 10 at halftime.

Nonetheless, Michigan State came away as the victors and are now winners of 10 straight.

Our Aidan Champion recaps the victory on this postgame edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast. You can watch below:

Below is a transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s opening statement of his postgame press conference:

Izzo: “New shirt tomorrow: ‘be the same.’ That’s going to be tomorrow: be the same. Really disappointed in my maybe my defensive performance. And I’m telling you — I’m taking full responsibility for that because I knew we were — I thought after that game, we had given up 40 points in the last two games [in the second half], and we did not learn much from it. We talked about it, we talked about it as a staff, we talked about it with our players, we talked about talking to the officials, we talked about the way things are, and I didn’t get much carry-over tonight, so that means, I did not do a very good job of getting through to my guys. So, I can promise you tonight, I’m going to figure out a way to get through to them. On the positive side, 24 assists on 32 baskets is amazing. 20 out of 24 free throws. Got there a lot, made free throws. 10 turnovers was good, but we had three at halftime, and we had four or five in a row during that run when we were up 10. And that happened at Northwestern. So that means we cannot handle success right now. So quit saying where we are. Because we’re not anywhere yet. We’re a good basketball team that’s got a long, long, long, long ways to go to get better. OK? Period. That’s where we are. And Frankie Fidler had a hell of a game, but other than that, I thought we were very pedestrian-like. We took bad shots, the wrong guys were taking some shots — we got to get other guys some shots. And I’ll answer any questions you got, but not many times this year have I been disappointed in our defensive performance. Tonight, I’m very disappointed.”

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Associated Press

Minnesota Timberwolves (21-19, eighth in the Western Conference) vs. New York Knicks (27-15, third in the Eastern Conference)

New York; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: New York hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves after the Knicks took down the Philadelphia 76ers 125-119 in overtime.

The Knicks are 13-7 on their home court. New York is fourth in the Eastern Conference scoring 117.4 points while shooting 49.6% from the field.

The Timberwolves are 11-10 in road games. Minnesota averages 109.8 points and has outscored opponents by 1.9 points per game.

The Knicks’ 13.3 made 3-pointers per game this season are just 0.4 more made shots on average than the 12.9 per game the Timberwolves give up. The Timberwolves average 15.1 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.5 more made shots on average than the 13.6 per game the Knicks give up.

TOP PERFORMERS: Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 25.4 points, 13.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists for the Knicks.

Anthony Edwards is averaging 25.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists for the Timberwolves.

LAST 10 GAMES: Knicks: 5-5, averaging 116.9 points, 45.2 rebounds, 25.5 assists, 7.4 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.1 points per game.

Timberwolves: 5-5, averaging 111.3 points, 46.6 rebounds, 23.7 assists, 5.8 steals and 5.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.1 points.

INJURIES: Knicks: Karl-Anthony Towns: day to day (thumb), Mitchell Robinson: out (ankle).

Timberwolves: Terrence Shannon Jr.: out (ankle).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Missouri’s new governor set a goal to reduce the number of people reoffending after they get out of prison.

Within minutes of swearing in, Missouri’s new Governor, Mike Kehoe, signed an executive order commanding the Department of Corrections to assemble a board that will review and revise the state’s parole rules. These rules have not been updated since 2017.

State officials said it’s too soon to know what implementing this executive order will look like, but blueprints are being drawn up right now. The Department of Corrections faces an October 1 deadline to complete a report on reducing recidivism.

The other executive orders issued are:

— Create new regional operation to arrest known criminals

— Provide state grants to local law enforcement

— Train select officers to assist federal efforts to find illegal immigrants

— Collect immigration data on those charged with crimes

— Reduce time required to reach top salary with Missouri State Highway Patrol

The Reentry Opportunity Center in Columbia helps those fresh out of prison reacclimate. It’s one of five state-funded facilities of its kind in Missouri. Director Jessica Chambers helps them build resumes, apply for jobs and find transportation.

“We don’t give them a handout,” Chambers said. “We give them a hand up so they can make it in the community here.”

For Chambers, it’s personal. She watched many of her family members go to jail growing up. However, through her six years of helping people readjust to life after prison, Chambers is proud every time she sees someone succeed.

“It does move to heart to see somebody be able to overcome the struggles of being attached with the stigma that comes with being incarcerated,” Chambers said.

Not everyone can be so fortunate, though. Within three years of getting out of prison, 31.6% of Missouri offenders find themselves back behind bars, according to a report from the Missouri Dept. of Corrections.

The good news is that Missouri’s recidivism rate has decreased more than 10% over the last 10 years, according to Department of Corrections data. Chambers believes places like the ROC help.

“Having a support system is the best thing that people getting out of prison could do in order to stay from going back so to keep that recidivism rate going down,” Chambers said.

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