3 Observations from Michigan State's Victory over Indiana
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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Good teams find ways to win. No. 12 Michigan State was teetering for a while on Tuesday, but the game was over once the Spartans found their footing.
This Big Ten clash at the Breslin Center was tied 53-53. Indiana had erased an eight-point lead during the second half to draw even on the road. The Hoosiers are nearly recognizable from last year after a coaching change, but one could only think of the possibility of them winning in East Lansing for a second consecutive season.
Somehow, MSU became a metaphorical boulder the rest of the way. The Spartans rattled off the next 19 points and eventually found themselves on a 28-2 run before IU could figure out anything. By then, Michigan State was already readying to empty its bench, ultimately winning 81-60.
That span between the 11-minute mark and the 2-minute mark of the second half is the story of Tuesday. Here are a few observations I had from the Spartans’ win over the Hoosiers.
Freshmen Get It Going
Michigan State doesn’t go on that ultra-run without the spark from its freshmen. Jordan Scott and Cam Ward accounted for eight of the first 10 points of the run. Scott contributed with a mid-range jumper and a three, while Ward had the old-fashioned three-point play shortly after he had a steal.
“They made some big plays,” Tom Izzo said about Ward and Scott. “They got our running game going, because we defended better, rebounded better.”
The optimism around the young guys on this team is no secret. Scott feels like he brings something positive every single game, and Ward is somebody who Izzo and the team has been pushing to contribute more.
MSU’s freshmen class this year is definitely on the smaller side, but it sure is mighty. Scott ended up scoring a season-high and career-high 11 points. The Spartans were plus-24 during his 21 minutes of playing time. Ward finished with five points and three rebounds while being plus-14 across 14 minutes.
Coen Carr: Timeout Forcer
There probably are not many players in college basketball who have forced opposing coaches to call a timeout more than Coen Carr. The only non-freshman contribution during those first 10 points was one of Carr’s patented tomahawk dunks on a fastbreak.
It makes sense. From a noise standpoint, that might have been the loudest moment of the game. Coaches need to keep their players calm, and there is nothing that might set in more panic than when someone like Carr is able to run unimpeded to the rim.
Indiana coach Darian DeVries called a timeout after Carr’s dunk that made it a 7-0 run and 60-53, MSU. It didn’t really work, given that the Spartans scored the next 12 points after that.
Points on the run was a place where Michigan State found plenty of success during this game, especially during the big run. The Spartans totaled 25 fastbreak points to IU’s 12. Nine of those points came during MSU’s 28-2 run.
Fears’ Assists Staying Up
![Jeremy Fears Jr.\](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_996,y_731,w_1835,h_1032/c_fill,w_16,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/spartan_nation/01kexdaxy5skdsfv2pg3.jpg "Jeremy Fears Jr.\")
Michigan State is a much better team when Jeremy Fears Jr. is a legitimate threat to score. The offense truly flowed through him on Tuesday night, as the redshirt sophomore put up a career-best 23 points to go with 10 assists. It’s Fears’ fifth career double-double.
At first, Fears was the only one scoring. He accounted for MSU’s first 10 points, with the first non-Fears contribution coming on a three-pointer by Jaxon Kohler nearly 10 minutes into the game. Fears ended up scoring 19 of his 23 points during the first half and was really the one who kept the Spartans above sea level for the earlier parts of the game.
Michigan State had another 19-5 run in the later portions of the opening once help truly arrived. That flipped a five-point Hoosier lead into a nine-point Spartan advantage, which settled into seven at the halftime break.
The assists are going to be lost a little bit in Fears’ big night scoring the basketball. Fears is just such an elite passer that 10 assists for his day (to three turnovers) barely even registers at first.
What’s interesting is that Fears doesn’t experience a big drop in his assist numbers when he has good scoring nights. He is averaging 8.3 assists per game during nights where he scores 10+ points. He averages 9.8 assists in games where he scores fewer than 10 points.
That 1.5-assist really doesn’t seem that large in contrast to how many more points he’s scoring. It’s really tough to average 8.3 assists per game, no matter how much one is scoring. If you switched Fears’ assists per game to that, he would go from second place nationally (behind Purdue’s Braden Smith) to… second place.
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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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