Michigan State basketball unleashes monster comeback to lock up outright Big Ten title

Posted by author March 7, 2025 Basketball

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — This time, it was Michigan State basketball’s turn to make a dramatic recovery at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

In a season filled with them, it almost felt fitting that another comeback cemented the Spartans as the outright Big Ten champions.

Iowa built a 14-point lead and looked in command early in the second half, until No. 7 MSU used its depth to erupt for a 33-6 run to reclaim the lead and rally to a 91-84 victory Thursday night.

For the ninth time in 10 games, the Spartans trailed at halftime, with another rally securing Tom Izzo’s fifth outright conference crown and first since 2018. The Spartans came back to win six of those nine games, as well as beating Purdue after being up by merely two points at the half.

The Spartans (25-5, 16-3) had previously earned a share of the Big Ten regular-season title Wednesday night when No. 15 U-M lost at home to No. 14 Maryland. MSU hosts the Wolverines at noon Sunday (CBS), a rematch of the Spartans’ 75-62 win Feb. 21 in Ann Arbor.

But that game will be meaningless beyond the rivalry and for NCAA tournament seeding. The Spartans locked up the No. 1 seed to next week’s Big Ten tournament and will open play at noon next Friday in Indianapolis.

Jase Richardson scored 22 points, while Jaden Akins had 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Jaxon Kohler and Jeremy Fears Jr. each had 15 points, while Tre Holloman scored 11.

Iowa (15-15, 6-13), which had won five of the last six against MSU, must win its final game Sunday at Nebraska to earn the final spot in the now-15-team Big Ten tournament. Josh Dix had 18 points while Payton Sandfort and Seydou Traore each had 15 for the Hawkeyes.

Big accomplishments

In his 30th season, Izzo tied Indiana’s Bob Knight and Purdue’s Ward “Piggy” Lambert — with Knight mostly and Lambert entirely predating the league’s postseason tournament that began in 1998 — for the most in Big Ten history. The 70-year-old Izzo earlier this season passed Knight for the most conference victories and now has 358.

However, this was just his fifth time as the sole champion. Izzo’s first two Final Four teams in 1999 and the 2000 national title team won outright league titles, as did the 2009 team that finished NCAA runner-up. The Spartans’ last outright Big Ten crown came in 2018, when they lost in the second round to Syracuse.

And Thursday’s comeback atoned for one of the biggest meltdowns in his career.

The last time MSU played at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Feb. 25, 2023, the Spartans blew a 13-point lead in the final 1:34 as Iowa forced overtime with six 3-pointers down the stretch en route to a 112-106 victory. It was just the fourth time in Division I history that a team lost when leading by 11 points with 55 seconds to play in regulation.

Not this time. Izzo and Co. knew the history and were hellbent on not allowing it to repeat itself.

Ugly open

The stands were barely half full, even with it being Iowa’s senior night. Perhaps that inspired the Hawkeyes.

MSU quickly found itself trailing by double digits for the sixth time this winter in Big Ten play.

After opening the first four minutes of the game with an 11-5 burst, including five points from Fears and four from Kohler, the Spartans’ offense looked stagnant and staggered. Their halfcourt offense was a mess when Iowa played zone. Their halfcourt defense proved equally as costly, with the Hawkeyes penetrating the paint at will for layups and kickout passes for 3-pointers.

Iowa went on a 22-3 surge that included 14 straight points, with interior penetration providing shots both inside and out. A dunk by Even Brauns and a layup by Treore forced Izzo to call timeout with 9:04 left in the first half and MSU staring at a 27-13 deficit amid nearly four minutes without a basket.

The Spartans chipped away, though the Hawkeyes maintained a 37-30 lead at half and quickly pushed it back to double digits after halftime.

Furious finish

But MSU continued to show the resolve it has all season, and as it did in recent wins after facing halftime deficits against Oregon (14), Illinois (4), U-M (4), Maryland (2) and Wisconsin (2).

Iowa led, 58-48, after a pair of Payton Sandfort free throws with 12:13 left. But Akins converted a layup through a foul, Richardson buried two free throws, then Akins drained a 3-pointer. It was a one-possession game.

Then Coen Carr took flight. He flipped his defensive rebound to Fears for a fastbreak and ran the court, elevating for a lob at the other end and a dunk that pulled the Spartans within a point. The sophomore delivered a block and an offensive board shortly after that, finishing with another flush off a lob from Richardson. MSU had its first lead since the score was 11-10.

Carr finished with eight points, five rebounds and four blocks.

The Spartans shot 68% in the second half and, despite having some issues at the free-throw line, finished it off late as the Hawkeyes kept hanging around, cutting a 17-point MSU lead after the big surge back to single digits in the final two minutes.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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