MSU Uses Balanced Attack to Get Signature Win at Purdue
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. --- This win is about as big as they come in the Big Ten.
No. 13 Michigan State got the stop it needed at the very end, as it took down eighth-ranked Purdue, 76-74, for its first win at Mackey Arena in 12 years, snapping a seven-game losing streak in the building to the Boilermakers.
Four different MSU players were in double figures in this one. Carson Cooper led the Spartans with 15 points and six rebounds, Kur Teng had 13 points with three made threes, Jeremy Fears Jr. had 12 points and six assists, and Coen Carr had 11 points with five rebounds.
The Spartans will briefly return to East Lansing for a two-day prep before going back to Indiana to face the Hoosiers in Bloomington. Tip time there is set for 3:45 p.m. ET on Sunday on CBS.
Game Recap
First Half
Starting quickly in this type of environment is critical. The slow starts have been a real issue for Michigan State this season, and it ended up quickly finding itself down 13-6 at the first media timeout. Boilermakers center Oscar Cluff was working MSU's bigs out of the gate, scoring eight of those first 13 points on 4-for-4 shooting.
The Spartans were able to dig out of that early hole quickly, though. Michigan State quickly went on a 10-0 run to take a lead, spurred by a Jeremy Fears Jr. four-point play. Purdue also seemed to look a lot different with Cluff off the court --- he came back in quickly after the second media timeout.
It was tightly contested for the rest of the first half, with nobody in either direction leading by more than one or two possessions. The home team continued to lead for most of the way --- MSU ended up leading for just 4:37 of the first half.
The Boilermakers ended up going to the locker room with a 39-36. A big reason that was the case is because Purdue was 6-for-11 (54.5%) from beyond the arc, while Michigan State was just 3-for-9 (33.3%). Cluff led all scorers with 10 after that fast individual start. Carson Cooper and Coen Carr, who both had impressive dunks on Purdue's 7-foot-4 center, Daniel Jacobsen, were tied for the Spartans' scoring lead at seven apiece.
Second Half
Much like the first half, this one was pretty tightly contested. The two teams traded some leads back and forth, looking like true equals. Some more early threes went down for the Spartans, which helped the visiting team's cause. No one led by more than four points in either direction for the first 10 minutes of the second half.
The first lead above that came after a 7-0 run for Michigan State, punctuated by a Carr windmill dunk off a Kur Teng steal. That put MSU up six right exactly at the midway point of the second half.
Purdue punched back, but struggled to draw to a tie or take a lead. The two teams kept trading basket for basket, and then stop for stop when they arrived. The Spartans finally seemed to get some separation, though, when it went on a 6-0 run to go up by eight with 4:05 remaining in the game, which was the largest lead for either team at the time.
The Boilermakers weren't going down that easy. They hit a couple more threes, which seemed to go down all night, and quickly went on an 8-2 spurt out of that timeout to make it a two-point game with 2:09 to go.
Both teams traded baskets again. Then they traded stops. The ball found its way to MSU's hands, still up by two, where it called timeout with 46.9 seconds to go and 20 seconds on the shot clock. Nothing good materalized out of it, and the Spartans committed a shot clock violation.
Purdue got it with 26.1 seconds left and called timeout. The Boilermakers went to Trey Kaufman-Renn, whose hook shot went off the back iron and out. Cam Ward was fouled with 8.1 seconds left, who missed the front end of the 1-on-1. Purdue called timeout with 3.4 seconds to go, and then MSU called timeout after it got a look at things. The Boilermakers went to star point guard Braden Smith, but he ended up chucking a really long, contested three-pointer that bounced off as time expired.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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