3 Smaller Moments Shine Through in MSU's Comeback at Rutgers
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The architecture of a comeback is always about more than one play.
No. 7 Michigan State avoided a disastrous loss to lowly Rutgers on Tuesday, coming back from down 12 with about nine minutes to go to win 88-79 in overtime. The victory propelled MSU to 19-2 overall and 9-1 during Big Ten play, continuing the Spartans' crash course with third-ranked Michigan for Friday night.
Divine Ugochukwu's game-tying three-pointer with 11 seconds remaining is the play that will be remembered most. That's for good reason: the shot was so clutch that it made iconic broadcaster Bill Raftery drop his iconic "Onions!" line.
Several other plays before Ugochukwu's shot made, well, Ugochukwu's shot possible. Consider this a nice place for said plays to have a little section in the story of this game and the team's season.
Other Clutch Plays for MSU
Coen Carr
MSU's Coen Carr made a couple of different plays that deserve mention. The first of his plays was a three-pointer that he made with 3:41 to go. This happened coming out of the final media timeout of regulation. Rutgers led by eight, and Carr's three-pointer cut the deficit to five.
Three-pointers during attempted comebacks are always huge, but it feels like there is an extra boost when it is Carr knocking one down. He's only at 29.5% from deep for the year, but Carr went 2-for-3 on Tuesday. His other make was a corner three in the final minute of the first half that cut Rutgers' lead from 12 to nine.
Carr has actually begun to find his stroke from out there. Across Michigan State's last four games, Carr is 7-for-11 from beyond the arc. Carr's three-point percentage in games 1-17 was just 18.2%.
There was also the poise from Carr on the final possession of regulation. That's the tricky part for those on the court after Ugochukwu hit that three: Rutgers had one more shot at it. Jeremy Fears Jr. actually bit on a hesitation move by Rutgers' Tariq Francis, who ended up getting a decent look at a floater before the buzzer.
Carr showed off his vertical while attempting to block it while coming in from the side. The problem is that he came in too late. If Carr had swatted the ball away, like many more inexperienced players would have done, it would have been a walk-off goaltending call. Certainly not the most fun way to lose a basketball game.
Instead, Carr had the wherewithal to pull off and let the shot fall. It ended up clanging harmlessly off the rim, officially granting MSU that additional life in overtime.
Kohler Comes Through in Early OT
Jaxon Kohler didn't have his greatest game on Tuesday. He's been slumping a bit lately and finished with 12 points and only four rebounds against Rutgers, but Kohler came through when things mattered.
Michigan State's experienced big man took advantage of the extra five-minute period. He scored the first five points of overtime. That gave MSU a 78-73 advantage, which was the Spartans' biggest lead at the time.
Also worth pointing out is that Kohler is a reason Ugochukwu was open on his game-tying three. Fears did plenty of the work with the drive and subsequent kickout, but Kohler set the screen on Ugochukwu's defender, who was sucked in by Fears' drive.
It's the smaller details like that that can make the difference in games like those. Kohler still probably wants more complete games from himself in the future, but he was a big part of the Spartans' great effort in "winning time."
Fears Makes Play after Play
The story of this comeback would not be complete without talking about what Fears did. He scored Michigan State's final eight points in regulation before Ugochukwu's three, and then scored the Spartans' final 10 points in overtime after Kohler's hot start.
That means he scored 18 of MSU's final 26 points, spanning across the final two minutes of regulation and the entirety of overtime. Rutgers --- the entire team --- only scored 12 points across those seven minutes of basketball. Oh yeah, Fears assisted on Carr's aforementioned three, and Ugochukwu's three, too.
It's a level of takeover that is just exceptionally rare in college basketball. Fears kept finding ways to score on what felt like every possession, whether it required him to take it to the rim or draw a foul and hit his free throws at the line.
Once the final buzzer sounded, Fears finished with a career-high 29 points, as well as nine assists. That level of individual performance, especially in crunch time, should be remembered for some time.
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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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