Late Iowa rally nearly topples No. 6 Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. - For about 30 minutes last night, Michigan State owned Iowa like it always does at the Breslin Center.

The No. 6-ranked Spartans built a comfortable lead, strangled Iowa on defense and cruised to easy baskets in transition. Then, Michigan State coasted in sloppy fashion, and Iowa took advantage of it.

The Hawkeyes dismantled a 19-point lead with offensive poise and defensive stops. Iowa didn't commit a turnover in its last 19 possessions and cut the Spartans' lead to three points twice in the last two minutes. But Iowa missed three 3-point attempts late, and Michigan State hit its free throws to win 70-63.

“I think the whole time we thought we could win,” Iowa freshman point guard Cully Payne said. “Down 19, down 20, whatever it was, we just kept playing like we were, started to hit shots at the end and kind of gave them a little run.”

Iowa (7-12, 1-5 Big Ten) had not won at the Breslin Center since 1993, a 14-game span. After taking a five-point first-half lead, the Hawkeyes fell apart on both ends of the court. Michigan State sprinted to a 21-2 run spanning more than 10 minutes. At one point Iowa turned over the ball on four straight possessions and had its next two stymied by offensive fouls.

“I take the blame for getting down early,” Payne said. “I threw two of them (bad passes) to like fifth row. That's two possessions right there. I think we were down eight right around there. I can't make those mental mistakes, as coach was saying during a timeout.”

Michigan State (16-3, 6-0) kept rolling in the second half and built a 55-36 lead with 11:03 left in the game and 62-47 with 7:22 left. Then, the Spartans slowed down just as Iowa ramped up.

Michigan State didn't score on its next six possessions, while Iowa hit two 3-pointers and two free throws to cut the Spartans' lead to seven. After the Spartans stretched their lead to nine, Iowa bounced back with a pair of 3-pointers from Eric May and Matt Gatens to cut its deficit to 64-61.

“I don't know the exact point, but I think it just started clicking,” said Gatens, who scored a team-high 17 points. “We started to go through a few more things that were working. We stopped turning the ball over, which hurt us in the first half and early in the second half.”

Korie Lucious put the Spartans back up five points on a drive to the basket. Both Payne and Gatens missed a pair of 3-pointers, although Jarryd Cole rebounded the Gatens' miss, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to again cut Michigan State's lead to three points. But the Spartans sank four free throws on their next two possessions in the final 14 seconds to seal the win.

But as much as Iowa rallied, Michigan State fell flat and was lifeless on defense. Izzo's team now is off to his first 6-0 Big Ten start, but that's not nearly good enough for him, especially with the way his team played late in the game.

“We just didn't respect the game or the ball,” Izzo said. “I don't want to take anything away from Iowa.

"You've got to understand that I am used to our great teams playing with incredible emotion, and this team is not quite like that right now. Maybe it will get better."

Iowa Coach Todd Licklier wouldn't accept any positive feedback on his way to the locker room. The loss was still a loss, and it burned him.

"To be down 19 is really daunting to this team," Lickliter said. "We want to keep fighting and be a really good team, and I don't think you are going to do that if you feel sorry for yourself, dont' compete, and you dont' continue to adjust and learn.

"These are opportunities, we're still growing."

Aaron Fuller finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, one rebound short of his third straight double-double. Gatens scored a team-high 17 points and leads the team in scoring at 13.1 points a game.