MSU out-toughs Iowa yet again

IOWA CITY — Iowa had a chance to prove it was tough against big, bad bully Michigan State. Instead, the Hawkeyes showed they were just as soft against the Spartans as they were last year. And the year before.

For the ninth consecutive time, a record streak in their 78-year series, Michigan State dispatched Iowa. This time it was 75-61 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and this time it was solely about Michigan State's persistence and Iowa's inability to match it.

After trailing early, Iowa stormed to a 27-10 run and led 39-28 at halftime before a raucous crowd of 15,054. Iowa forward Aaron White's 3-pointer with 17:09 left in the game maintained the Hawkeyes' 11-point lead. Then it all unraveled.

Michigan State (11-5, 2-1 Big Ten) blazed on a 22-4 run, scoring on nine of 12 possessions. The Hawkeyes led as late as 10:22 at 48-47 before Michigan State guard Travis Trice put on an epic shooting display. The senior buried consecutive shots on three trips — including two 3-pointers — and put the Spartans ahead 55-48 with 9:04 left. Iowa scored three straight points to trim its deficit to 55-51, and momentum sizzled. Then Trice, who scored 25 points, was wide open from the corner and buried another 3-pointer to put the Spartans' lead to eight. That knocked the wind from the arena.

'I do think we got a little shellshocked at one point when they were hitting shots,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'Like I said, not only were they hitting them, they were swishing them. They were on fire.'

'We kind of hung our heads a little bit,' Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons said. 'But that's something that we've got to get better at and stay mentally tough when those shots go down like that.'

It was a relentless turn of events. After spotting MSU a 7-0 deficit in rebounds, Iowa out-rebounded the Spartans 18-8 the rest of the first half. An 18-12 Michigan State lead turned into a 39-28 halftime lead for Iowa. Then, nearly as quickly, it fell apart for the Hawkeyes. Michigan State hit its first eight 3-pointers of the second half, while Iowa was 2 of 12 from 3-point range for the game.

'I didn't even know what to say to Franny,' Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said. 'I just think that they're a good team. That sometimes happens. Some teams play good against certain teams. It's ridiculous because they're good. They're really good. I think they're going to get better.

'I wasn't happy with our leadership at halftime, and I don't know what he was with his. It didn't seem like anybody grabbed the bull by the horns out there, and we had some of those problems, too.'

The roots of Iowa's second-half woes began between halftime and the first media timeout of the second half. Michigan State outscored the Hawkeyes 8-5. Currently or formerly ranked opponents have outscored Iowa 84-27 in that time frame this year.

Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff, the reigning Big Ten player of the week, scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He was asked if the team lacked leadership and said, 'I don't have an answer for you.'

As for the second-half collapse ...

'To a certain extent we weren't talking a much, we weren't energizing enough like we were in the first half or the beginning of the second half. We didn't have enough energy.'

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