Balanced Effort Leads No. 24 Michigan State Past No. 18 Iowa, 78-70

East Lansing, Mich. – Freshman guard Rocket Watts (Detroit, Mich./SPIRE Academy [Ohio]) tied his career-high with 21 points and No. 24 Michigan State used a big second half to pull away from No. 18 Iowa in a 78-70 win at the Breslin Center on Tuesday night.

Senior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored 20 points and handed out nine assists as three Spartans scored in double figures, including sophomore forward Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis), who had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Junior forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) scored six points, grabbed six rebounds, had two steals and two blocked shots, becoming the all-time leader in blocks at MSU. Tillman held Iowa's Luka Garza to eight points in the second half as he finished with 20 points, six below his conference average.

Records
Michigan State, winners of three of its last four games, improves to 19-9 overall and 11-6 in the Big Ten Conference, while Iowa falls to 19-9 overall and 10-7 in the league.

Summary

After trailing by six at the half (33-27) and 10 points (42-32), MSU trailed 60-56 with 6:57 left and went on a 10-1 run to take a 66-61 lead on a 3-pointer by Watts from the top of the key with 3:17 to play.
A 3-pointer from Bakari Evelyn made it 66-64, but six-straight points from MSU, the last four by Winston, gave the Spartans a 72-64 lead with 1:08 to play.
Michigan State hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final 40 seconds to seal the win.
Trailing by six, 33-27, at the break, Winston hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 33-30, before Iowa used a 9-2 run to take a 42-32 lead on a 3-pointer from Ryan Kriener.
The Spartans responded with a 9-1 run of their own, pulling to within 43-41 on a 3-pointer from Winston at 15:32.
Iowa pushed the lead back to 49-41 on a 3-pointer from Connor McCaffery, but the Spartans used a 12-2 run and took a 53-51 lead on a layup from Tillman with 11:03 to play.
The Spartans led by only three points, 39-36, at halftime and were still only ahead by two points six minutes
MSU trailed at the half, 33-27, after hitting only 1-of-9 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and playing without Tillman for 15 minutes after he picked up two fouls in the opening five minutes.
Trailing 20-14, the Spartans used a 7-0 run to take a 21-20 lead on a jumper from freshman forward Julius Marble (Dallas, Texas/Dallas Jesuit) with 6:55 to play.
The Hawkeyes out-scored MSU 13-6 over the final minutes to take the 33-27 lead on a jumper from McFaffery with 50 seconds to play.

Key Stats

Michigan State scored only 27 points in the first half and scored 51 in the second half.
The Spartans connected on 60.0 percent of their second half field goals (15-of-25).
After hitting just one 3-pointer in the first half, the Spartans hit 54.5 percent in the second half (6-of-11), including 4-of-5 by Winston.
Winston scored 19 of his 20 points in the second half, hitting 5-of-6 shots from the floor, including 4-of-5 from long distance.

Notes

Michigan State has won the last five meetings with Iowa.
The Spartans lead the head-to-head series, 76-55, including a 21-3 record at the Breslin Center.
Head Coach Tom Izzo is 34-11 all-time against Iowa.
Michigan State is now 1-9 when trailing at the half.
The Spartans are 7-0 when shooting at least 50.0 percent from the floor.
This was the 27th time this season MSU has held its opponent below 50.0 percent shooting from the floor (18-9).
Michigan State is now 18-2 when scoring at least 70 points.
Watts tied his career-high with 21 points, his eighth game in double figures.
Winston scored 20 points, his 24th game in double figures this season and the 97th of his career.
He has scored at least 20 points 15 times this season and 38 times in his career.
He now has 1,908 career points and needs seven points to pass Jay Vincent (1977-81) for sixth place on the all-time SU scoring list.
Winston is one of six players in Michigan State history to score at least 1,900 points.
Winston handed out nine assists, increasing his MSU and Big Ten all-time lead in that category to 871.
Tillman blocked two shots, giving him 147 for his career and becoming the all-time leader in that category at Michigan State.
His 59 blocks this season are the sixth-most in a single season at MSU.
Henry scored in double figures for the 14th time this season and the 18th time in his career.
He has scored at least 10 points in four of the last five games.

Up Next
Michigan State hits the road for its next two games, playing first at No. 9 Maryland on Saturday, Feb. 29. Tipoff at Xfinity Center is slated for 8 p.m., with Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas calling all of the action on ESPN.

Balanced Effort Leads No. 24 Michigan State Past No. 18 Iowa, 78-70

Next Event

Team Stats

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

Aaron Henry

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Players Mentioned

Aaron Henry

Julius Marble II

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

Players Mentioned

Aaron Henry

Julius Marble II

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

Balanced Effort Leads No. 24 Michigan State Past No. 18 Iowa, 78-70

Related News

Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

Aaron Henry

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Players Mentioned

Aaron Henry

Julius Marble II

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

Related News

Players Mentioned

Aaron Henry

Julius Marble II

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

Related Videos