At the Buzzer: Indiana 71, Michigan State 67

Quick thoughts on a 71-67 win at Michigan State:

How it happened

Michigan State raced to a 20-8 lead in the first 8:43 of Tuesday’s game at the Breslin Center against Indiana, but the Hoosiers didn’t fold. A move to a zone defense was a game changer for Indiana, who outscored the Spartans 24-9 over the final 11:17 of the first half. The Spartans, not known for their 3-point shooting, went just 2-for-12 from distance in the opening 20 minutes. Indiana, meanwhile, got timely shooting from Luke Goode, who had eight first-half points and 12 points and seven rebounds from Oumar Ballo, who bounced back from two difficult games against Wisconsin and Michigan. It also helped that Indiana only turned it over twice in the first half and didn’t let Michigan State get into transition often. The Spartans managed just six fastbreak points before halftime. Indiana led 32-29 at the break in front of a near-capacity Breslin Center.

Indiana built a nine-point lead at 28-29 on a Malik Reneau bucket with 17:18 to play and after the Spartans got within three at 38-35 on a Jaden Akins 3-pointer, pushed the lead back to seven at 42-35 on another Reneau bucket just before the under-12 media timeout. The Hoosiers had a chance to stretch the lead to 10, but a Mackenzie Mgbako corner 3-pointer rimmed out and Michigan State answered with a 3-pointer at the other end to make it a 48-44 Hoosier lead. Indiana led 50-46 by the under-eight media timeout with just 6:17 to play. After Michigan State got within three at 55-52, the Hoosiers went on a 6-0 run to push the lead to 61-52 with 3:12 to play, forcing Tom Izzo to take a timeout. Leading 61-56 with 2:15 to play, Indiana took a timeout.

A Tre Holloman bucket stretched the MSU run to 6-0 and cut the IU lead to 61-58 with 1:27 left. Mackenzie Mgbako split a pair of free throws with 1:14 left and then Myles Rice missed the front end of a one-and-one with the Hoosiers leading 62-58. A putback from Jaden Akins with 32.7 seconds left got Michigan State within two at 62-60. The Spartans then fouled Rice with 30.4 seconds left. Rice made both free throws to make it 64-60. Oumar Ballo fouled Frankie Fidler with just over 23 seconds left and Fidler made both free throws to make it 64-62. MSU then fouled Reneau, who split a pair of free throws to make it 65-62. Anthony Leal then fouled Fidler with 14.7 seconds left and he made both to make it 65-64. MSU quickly fouled Mgbako, who made both free throws to make it 67-64. Indiana then fouled Holloman, who made two free throws to make it 67-66. The Spartans quickly fouled Mgbako, who made both to make it 69-66. Indiana then fouled Michigan State again with 5.8 seconds left. Holloman made the first but missed the second intentionally. Anthony Leal grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Leal made both to seal the win for the Hoosiers.

Standout performers

Reneau came off the bench and led Indiana with 19 points and 12 rebounds in 29 minutes. Ballo added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Rice, who also came off the bench, had 10 points in 36 minutes and Goode also reached double figures with 10 points in 36 minutes.

Statistics that stand out

Indiana outscored Michigan State 38-32 in the paint and also won the points off of turnovers battle 13 to 10. The Hoosiers also finished 20-for-28 from the free-throw line, good for 71.4 percent.

Final IU individual statistics

Final tempo-free statistics

Assembly Call postgame show

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

Category: Commentary

Filed to: Michigan State Spartans