Iowa 112, Michigan State 106: Shooters Shoot
In one of the wildest games ever to take place at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa clawed back from a 13-point deficit with just 1:34 left in the game to force overtime and defeat the visiting Michigan State Spartans, 112-106. The win moves Iowa to 18-11 and 10-8 in Big Ten play.
Kris Murray led the way with 26 points in a sorely needed bounce-back game after his 5-point performance at Wisconsin, but Iowa's comeback was a team effort above all else. The Hawkeyes made five three-pointers in the game's last 39 seconds of regulation, with Payton Sandfort (22 points, 5 rebounds) nailing a three with 0:03 to tie the game at 101 at the end of regulation.
With the comeback, Iowa becomes just the fourth D-I team ever to win when down 11+ with less than one minute remaining.
RECAP
The first half, which ended in a 42-42 tie, featured typically strong offense from the Hawkeyes and a renewed focus on causing turnovers and generating second-chance opportunities. Unfortunately, it also featured 6-for-8 long-range shooting by the Spartans, who came into the game as one of the Big Ten's (and nation's) best three-point shooting teams. Still, Iowa was at least back to playing "Iowa ball," paced by 12 points from Filip Rebraca.
The second half remained close and competitive in the early going, but instead of cooling off its 75% clip from deep, MSU instead decided to turn its shooting up; the Spartans did not miss from long range, connecting on all five official attempts* as part of a 14-for-22 second half from the field (and 26-for-30 from the free throw line, and we'll get to that soon).
*A desperation shot by A.J. Hoggard at the end of regulation bounced away, but wasn't counted. It pretty obviously came before the whistle, though.
Iowa stuck around and kept competing, but every missed shot or empty possession the Hawkeyes had on offense only deepened the deficit, the sort of basketball quicksand a team finds itself in when it can't get stops on the other end. Even when Iowa cut the deficit to two points with a Sandfort three-pointer with 8:38 left, Sparty responded with an open, easy three by Tyson Walker (game-high 31 points in a losing effort) — not that Michigan State needed the help, as even its contested shots were going in at this point.
The officiating tightened up down the stretch, and while the Spartans were making the most of their now-frequent trips to the stripe, Iowa couldn't match them on the other end. The Hawkeyes' 12-for-17 second-half free-throw shooting wasn't a disaster, but it was the type of "just all right" that usually won't win games against a Tom Izzo team that's clicking.
The lead kept climbing as the clock kept dwindling, and by the time Fran McCaffery was assessed a technical foul with 2:03 left, the game result seemed academic; MSU was now up 13 points, converting on nearly every trip down, and already dreaming of celebrating its first win at Carver since 2019.
And then: the staredown.
Fran McCaffery's sideline rages are well-documented, but this looked like a new tactic; seemingly communicating wordlessly to the officials that he wasn't mad at them, just disappointed.
Official Kelly Pfeifer was the target of McCaffery's attention, having made the call against Ahron Ulis that prompted McCaffery's ire (and subsequent tech). Ulis had just locked up Walker along the sideline, trying to force a jump ball; Ulis was whistled for a foul instead.
There was some contact from Ulis on Walker on the play. There's also some contact on nearly every jump ball. McCaffery's ire was justified, just like Izzo's anger would have been too if the same play had been ruled a jump ball instead.
Now, whether or not this (deeply uncomfortable) moment had any actual effect on how the game was officiated, or any effect on the players, is debatable at best. Most Iowa players barely paid attention in the moment. An even more damaging call against Iowa came after the staredown. Also, certainly McCaffery wasn't about to speculate on the effect himself:
Nonetheless, The Staredown ended up being a near-perfect signpost for when Iowa flipped the switch into rally mode, converting the stress of the moment into pure jet fuel.
Michigan State converted two free throws on an immediate Iowa foul to push the game back to 12 with 1:27 left, before Murray converted an and-one off an offensive rebound.
Lead down to 9.
The teams traded free throws (including the call that fouled out Rebraca, leaving Murray as the only "big" in Iowa's rotation), then Jaden Adkins made only one-of-two with 0:48 left, leading to Connor McCaffery canning a three in response.
Lead down to 7.
Iowa's press then got the break it needed, forcing a Malik Hill travel and turnover. Kris Murray missed a three, but Patrick McCaffery's offensive rebound and kickout gave Murray another look, and it was true.
Lead down to 4. Crowd now manic.
Here, Iowa's press seemed to cause a turnover, as Hoggard was doubled on the baseline on the ensuing inbounds, and stepped on the endline while appearing to travel. It was instead called a foul on Tony Perkins, and the official review was (obviously) not going to give the ball back to Iowa.
Crowd now extremely manic.
Sparty again took care of business at the line as Iowa extended the game, and Patrick McCaffery responded with a three of his own with 21 seconds left.
Lead down to 3.
Rinse, repeat: MSU makes two freebies, and a McCaffery three in response, this one from Connor with 10 seconds left.
Lead down to 2.
At this point, Iowa would need a bit of help, and it came as Hoggard missed the second of two free throws on the ensuing trip to the line — only MSU's second miss from the line in 12 attempts in the last 90 seconds of regulation.
Iowa collected an uncontested rebound, the Hawkeyes raced down the floor, and off a handoff — in a sublime bit of poetic redemption — the last shot belonged to Payton Sandfort, who in East Lansing had two attempts to win the game in the closing seconds and missed both.
This time: nails. Tie game. Bedlam on the Carver parquet. 101-101 at the end of regulation.
Iowa scored 40 points in the last 10 minutes of the second half (a pace of 160 points for the game), including 23 in the last 90 seconds (a pace of, uh, 613.3 points). Iowa needed every ounce of that otherworldly scoring against a Spartan squad that did everything it needed to win the game and then some on the offensive end.
Overtime saw MSU come back to earth, as the Spartans went just 1-for-5 from the field and scored 5 points in the bonus stanza. Michigan State even missed both three-point attempts in the extra frame, dropping its three-point shooting for the game to a downright pedestrian 11-for-15, or 73.3%.
Meanwhile, Perkins outscored MSU by himself with six points, including two tip-in buckets that helped Iowa establish and ultimately keep the lead and victory in one of the most ridiculous games of the season — across all of college basketball.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
The Illinois victory has already been dubbed The Tony Perkins Game, but while Saturday's win can't be laid at any one player's feet, special recognition belongs to Perkins, who absolutely emptied his gas tank in this win. Perkins finished with 24 points, a team-high 9 rebounds (including 5 on offense), a tied-for-team-high 6 assists, a tied-for-team-high 3 steals, and a career-high 4 three-pointers, including three in a row for Iowa early in the second half.
Sandfort, too, had a performance to remember. His game-tying three-pointer will live in Hawkeye highlight packages for years to come, his six three-pointers were a new career high, and this now marks the fifth time this season (including four in Big Ten play) that Sandfort has hit the 20-point mark. Moreover, while Sandfort's not particularly confrontational or otherwise a habitual line-stepper, his competitive spirit undoubtedly influences the way the rest of the team plays on the court. Sandfort is a bona fide Big Ten player, and he's looking capable of leading this team when he becomes an upperclassman.
Murray led Iowa with 26 points, along with 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. This was the All-Big Ten type of performance Iowa needed out of its star, and a message to the rest of the conference that the slump from the last two road games was already over.
Rebraca finished with 18 points before fouling out, and while he only corralled three rebounds, he made up for it as the centerpiece of the halfcourt set, with five assists to show for his efforts. Rebraca also had the unenviable task of defending Malik Hall and Mady Sissoko; the two had 55 minutes of combined court time and could only play Rebraca to a draw, with 18 points of their own.
DOUBLE-DIGIT BIG TEN WINS — AGAIN
Iowa's 10-8 record in Big Ten play was good enough to put the Hawkeyes in sole possession of 7th place in the conference, but not for long; there's six teams within a half-game in the standings, with five* still to play this weekend.
*the sixth is Michigan State, whose home date with Minnesota was quite understandably canceled; the Spartans are now 9-8.
The win also means Iowa has hit double-digit Big Ten wins for the eighth time in the last nine seasons, and one more conference win will give Fran McCaffery his fourth consecutive winning season in Big Ten play — which Iowa has not accomplished since the last four years of the Dr. Tom Davis era.
Taking down a resurgent Sparty team, who came into the game projected as the second 7-seed in the Bracket Matrix, is likely going to be enough to lock in Iowa's spot in the NCAA tournament — although that's hardly an invitation for the Hawkeyes to take their collective foot off the gas.
Still, the existential dread of The Bubble should be well and truly gone by now, and Iowa can focus on racking up more wins to strengthen its resume here in the closing stretch.