Spartans Refuse to Overlook Iowa With Outright Conference Title in Reach

The No. 8 Michigan State Spartans are on the brink of becoming the outright Big Ten champions. A road test with the Iowa Hawkeyes is standing in their way, and one Spartan says Thursday's matchup is "personal."

Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans On SI

The No. 8 Michigan State Spartans (24-5, 15-3) are one win away from clinching the Big Ten title outright. Their next obstacle will be to take down the struggling Iowa Hawkeyes (15-14, 6-12) on the road Thursday night. Despite being so close to a championship, this team is locked in.

The Spartans are 1-2 against Iowa in their last three meetings over the past two seasons. They were handled at the Breslin Center in their lone meeting last year while losing in devastating fashion late in the 2022-23 season. The Hawkeyes have given Michigan State fits in the recent past.

Junior center Carson Cooper called Thursday's road matchup with the Hawkeyes "personal." He is well aware of the potential trap game at hand and is more than dialed in on the task at hand.

Cooper was a part of the team the past two seasons and looks to get right against a problematic opponent.

"I think for us right now, the attention to detail is probably at an all-time high," Cooper said when he addressed the media on Tuesday.

"Especially Iowa, you can't look past them even though they're not playing great basketball right now, because of what they've been able to do to us the last couple years. It really makes it personal for us.

"I think none of us are really looking past that, looking more towards the after-effect than what the actual game is. But the the attention to detail, like I said, is there, and we've seen that last two days so far."

One thing the Spartans are avoiding is looking past a subpar Big Ten opponent and imagining being outright conference champs will feel like. There is no doubt that Coach Tom Izzo is driving home the point that this game is the most important of the year as the next game on the schedule.

Despite losing 10 of their 13 games, the Hawkeyes still possess the No. 2 offense in the Big Ten, averaging 82.2 points per game. If the Spartans can continue their lockdown defense and hold Iowa to a low total, they will be crowned the outright Big Ten champions.

Michigan State clinched at least a share of the title with Michigan's loss to Maryland on Wednesday.

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