Jan. 10, 2012
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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Sixth-ranked Michigan State shot 61.7 percent from the floor and 55.6 percent from 3-point land to post a 95-61 victory over the University of Iowa men’s basketball team Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.
“I thought we had some individuals who fought hard, but collectively we didn’t fight the way I would have liked,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery.
Michigan State won its 15th straight game to improve to 15-2 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten, while Iowa falls to 10-8 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
“I don’t think Iowa played as well as I’ve seen on film,” said MSU head coach Tom Izzo. “On the other side, I felt we played about as well as we could in the first half. It wasn’t a normal game. They’ve been playing really well, but it was just one of those things.”
The Spartans jumped on the Hawkeyes early and never looked back. MSU opened up a 14-5 lead over the first five minutes, and it pushed the margin to 15 (27-12) at the 10-minute mark. Trailing 30-15, Iowa used a 7-0 run behind a dunk and tip-in by Aaron White and a three-point play by Roy Devyn Marble to close the gap to 30-22.
Michigan State, however, scored the next 16 points to build a 46-22 advantage before taking an 22-point lead (46-24) into the break. The Spartans shot 59 percent from the field and 50 percent from long range, and scored 20 points off of Iowa’s 14 first half turnovers.
“This was not the best performance here,” said White. “We’re disappointed in how we came back after the Ohio State game. We have to come with a little more fight, but we’re going to continue to grow and learn from this game.”
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It was much of the same in the second half. Michigan State’s Keith Appling scored the first four points to push the Spartans’ lead to 50-24. Iowa continued battling, closing the gap to 59-41 on a Marble 3-pointer with 13:56 remaining, but MSU broke the game open with a 26-2 run, making the score 88-43.
The Hawkeyes shot 36.5 percent (23-of-63) from the floor and 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from 3-point range. Iowa committed 21 turnovers, which led to a 33 Spartan points, and Michigan State out rebounded the Hawkeyes, 37-33.
Four Iowa players finished in double figures with White leading the way with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He also had six rebounds. Marble netted 12 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Matt Gatens and Melsahn Basabe scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Spartan forward Draymond Green led all scorers, finishing with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Green also had a game-high nine rebounds. Appling finished with 15 points to go along with nine assists.
Michigan State had 25 assists on its 37 made field goals, and it went 10-of-18 from 3-point land. The Spartans also had 16 steals, and their bench outscored the Hawkeyes, 37-19.
Iowa returns home Saturday to face its third consecutive ranked foe in No. 13 Michigan. Game time is set for 12 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“We have Michigan coming up,” said White. “In this league you can’t dwell on losses even after a performance like this. We have to turn it right around and get back to work.”