Derrick Nix poured in a career-high 25 points to go with 11 rebounds on Saturday, as No. 20 Michigan State held off Texas, 67-56, at Breslin Center.

Keith Appling followed with 14 points and Adreian Payne donated 13 points and seven rebounds for the Spartans (11-2), who have won six straight.

Julien Lewis led the Longhorns (7-5) with 16 points, while Sheldon McClellan added 13 points for Texas, which was coming off an impressive 85-67 triumph over No. 23 North Carolina on Wednesday.

Michigan State jumped out to an early 12-4 edge, but the Longhorns answered with a 13-4 spurt capped by Ioannis Papapetrou's 3-pointer to give Texas a 17-16 advantage with 8:43 remaining in the opening half.

Texas held a slim 25-24 edge with three minutes left in the half before McClellan took over, pouring in his team's final eight points of the frame to help the Longhorns take a 33-28 lead into the locker room.

The Spartans came out of the break energized, scoring the first eight points of the second half to grab a 36-33 advantage just over three minutes in.

After exchanging layups, Lewis nailed a triple, tying the game at 38-38 with 16 minutes left in the contest.

The Longhorns went cold from there as they failed to register a field goal over the next five minutes, allowing the Spartans to rip off an 11-2 spurt capped by Appling's trey to make it 49-40 with just over 11 minutes left in the contest.

The lead was up to 10 after a three-point play from Nix, but the Longhorns scored 10 of the next 12 points to pull within 56-54 with 4:44 left.

Texas, though, went the final four-plus minutes with just one field goal, as Michigan State closed the contest on an 11-2 spurt to secure the victory.

Game Notes