Malik Hall's return lifts Spartans to 63-61 win against Hawkeyes
Matt CharboneauEast Lansing – Michigan State needed a win, making Thursday night a perfect time for the return of Malik Hall.
Having lost three of the last four, the Spartans got their most important player back as Hall had missed three of those four games after aggravating the stress reaction injury in his left foot.
And it proved to be a huge boost for the Spartans, who overcome a slow start and rallied in the second half, getting late buckets from Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins before making one final defensive stop to earn a 63-61 victory over Iowa at the Breslin Center.
“We’ve lost a couple games we deserved to win and tonight we might have won one I’m not sure we deserved to win,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “As (former Michigan State coach) Jud (Heathcote) always said, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”
Hall scored 11 and had four assists and three rebounds in nearly 25 minutes of action for Michigan State (14-7, 6-4 Big Ten) while Akins scored 12 and Mady Sissoko had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Joey Hauser added 11 points while Walker chipped in 10 for the Spartans.
“Every one of those guys came through for us,” Izzo said. “Walker came through, Joey came through. We outrebounded them and we got 10 offensive rebounds and only 10 turnovers.
“I thought we did some good things. It will probably look better to me on the film. But (Iowa) is a good basketball team, a very good team that I thought played as hard as I’ve seen them play.”
BOX SCORE: Michigan State 63, Iowa 61
Ahron Ulis scored a career-high 17 for Iowa (12-8, 4-5) and Filip Rebraca added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawkeyes. Kris Murray, the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten, was limited to 11 points for the Hawkeyes.
The start couldn’t have been much worse for Michigan State as it missed its first nine shots, allowing Iowa to take a 10-0 lead just more than four minutes into the game.
“It was not a lot of fun on the bench,” Izzo said of the slow start. “I thought we missed some good shots, took a couple of bad shots, had a couple of turnovers. We just didn't look like we were moving the ball in sync, and that's what I have a problem with right now.
"With our team if you ask me, that’s what we’ve got to get better at. With Joey, Malik and Tyson, we’ve got shooters. We should be a better offensive team than we are, so that is my main worry. I just didn't think we weren’t moving the ball side to side and too much one on one.”
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A Walker 3-pointer broke the ice for the Spartans, igniting a 12-4 surge that pulled them within 14-12 with 11 minutes left in the opening half.
Michigan State continued to push, but each time Iowa had an answer, getting back-to-back triples from Connor McCaffery and Payton Sandfort, extending its lead to 22-17. The Spartans chipped away again as Hall and Walker scored on jumpers before Hall brought the house down with a one-handed dunk in transition, giving Michigan State its first lead at 24-23.
“That was a great moment,” Hall said. “To be honest I was just trying to make a play. Me and Tyson locked eyes and I was like, ‘Whoa.’ It was like a telepathic thing and I was like, ‘I need it,’ and it just lined up perfectly.”
The play proved to be an emotional turning point for the team and the fans and a signal for Hall that he was back.
“I was feeling pretty good throughout,” Hall said. “We got to halftime and I was a little sore, but once the second half got started and I was out there it wasn’t’ too bad at all.”
Not only was Hall’s offense critical, but he and A.J. Hoggard were the key defenders that limited Murray throughout the game as the Iowa star was just 5-for-13, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range.
“They’re way better with him,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of Hall. “He gives them a lot of flexibility in the front court. They can go big, they can go small. It gives them another scorer, another defender, and he makes them more physical.”
The lead went back and forth over the final four minutes with Michigan State getting the final advantage on a pair of free throws from Pierre Brooks to take a 30-29 lead into halftime.
Like the first half, Iowa was the better team early in the second, quickly retaking the lead then responding to a Jaden Akins 3-pointer by scoring five in a row to take a 45-39 lead with 13:06 to play.
Michigan State responded by scoring the next six while getting a pair of 3-pointers from Hauser to take a 51-49 lead. But Iowa scored on an offensive rebound to tie the game at 51 with 9:01 left in the game.
The back-and-forth continued from there as Hoggard and Walker made back-to-back 3-pointers for the Spartans to offset a couple of buckets from Ulis and two free throws from the Hawkeyes as the score was tied at 59 with less than four minutes to play.
Walker broke the tie with a deep jumper with 1:23 to play. And after Connor McCaffery scored on a jumper, Akins hit the go-ahead jumper with 47.1 to play. Michigan State had a chance to ice the game but Hoggard missed the front end of a one-and-one, leading to the final sequence when Sandfort got off two 3-pointers and both missed.
“It’s tough,” Hall said of winning in the Big Ten. “It’s very important. Obviously, games like this are how you win and lose in the Big Ten. We just continue to stack things like this, stack games that are close and hard and make sure you do it.”
Twitter: @mattcharboneau