College basketball: No. 3 Michigan State dismantles No. 5 Irish

Tom Izzo is usually hard to please, consistently finding fault with his teams after victories.

But after No. 3 Michigan State’s 81-63 victory over No. 5 Notre Dame on Thursday night at East Lansing, Mich., the Spartans coach looked and sounded uncharacteristically happy.

“I shouldn’t complain about one thing,” Izzo said.

And that, even for Izzo, would have been hard to do.

Joshua Langford scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half to help the Spartans build a 46-26 lead.

Michigan State (6-1) has won five consecutive games, including a rout against then-No. 9 North Carolina to win a PK80 Invitational bracket, since losing to top-ranked Duke.

“Since that game,” Izzo said, “we’ve rebounded a little better.”

Michigan State had 42 rebounds, twice as many as the Fighting Irish.

Other scores around the top 25:

Seton Hall 89, No. 22 Texas Tech 79: Myles Powell scored seven of his 19 points in a span of 45 seconds to lift the Pirates to the upset at Madison Square Garden.

at No. 9 Texas A&M 78, Texas Rio Grande 60: Junior guards D.J. Hogg and Admon Gilder scored 17 points each to lead the Aggies.

at No. 19 West Virginia 102, NJIT 69: Jevon Carter scored 25 points, grabbed nine rebounds and ended the game as West Virginia’s all-time steals leader.

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SOUTHLAND

Scores from around the Southland and upcoming Friday night games:

MEN

Pacific 57, at UC Riverside 55: Jack Williams scored 13 points and the Tigers (4-4) beat the Highlanders (2-4) for the 21st time in 25 all-time meetings. Dikymbe Martin scored 17 points for Riverside, which shot 26.5% in the first half.

WOMEN

USC at Loyola Marymount — 7 p.m.