Michigan State dominates Iowa, 71-52, in Big Ten opener to stay perfect
Coen Carr led all scorers with 15 and Kohler notched his fifth double-double of the year
College basketball fans may have expected a high-flying shootout in East Lansing for the Big Ten opener as the Iowa Hawkeyes visited Michigan State. But those that tuned into Peacock instead found themselves watching a good old-fashioned tractor pull, at least in the first 10 minutes.
Fran McCaffery no longer patrols the sidelines in Iowa City. Tuesday night’s contest marked the inaugural Big Ten game for new Hawkeye coach Ben McCollum. The new-look Hawkeyes play a much slower and more deliberate brand of basketball that will remind some of an old-school Dick Bennett or Bo Ryan-led Wisconsin squad.
But once the Spartans found their footing and hit their stride, they pulled away at the end of the first half and cruised in the second half for the 71-52 win to open Big Ten play. Michigan State improved to 8-0 (1-0) on the young season.
Coen Carr led the Spartans in scoring with 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Jeremey Fears, Jr. scored 14 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Jaxon Kohler poured in 12 points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year.
Carson Cooper scored just three points and generally struggled throughout the evening. Cooper missed a couple of shots at point-blank range, committed five turnovers, and played only eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.
The Spartans dominated the Hawkeyes on the glass all evening. They outrebounded Iowa 37-18 resulting in a 21-to-4 advantage in second-chance points. Iowa was able to limit the Spartans to just six fastbreak points.
On the defensive end, Michigan State frustrated the Hawkeye star point guard Bennett Stirtz. He scored just four points in the first half, missed three free throws, and committed four turnovers.
Stirtz picked up his play in the second half with 10 points and no turnovers, but it was far too little and far too late.
The Spartans were without freshman power forward Cam Ward, who sat the game out with a wrist injury that was incurred on Thanksgiving Day against North Carolina.
The real stars of the evening were the officials, who called a total of 41 fouls. The whistle-happy approach contributed to the slog-like pace of the game, especially early.
The Iowa Hawkeyes got off to a quick start. Stirtz hit a smooth three-pointer on the first Iowa possession. Iowa went on to hit two of the next four shots from the field to take an early 7-3 just over three minutes into the game.
Meanwhile, the Spartans struggled early with half-court offense. Michigan State hit only two of the first 11 shots from the field.
The Spartans were able to stay in the game and eventually build a working margin from the free throw line. With eight minutes remaining in the first half, nine of the Spartans’ 14 points came from the charity stripe.
At the same time, Michigan State clamped down on the defensive end. Iowa made just one basket over an 11-minute span in the middle of the first half.
Slowly, but surely, Spartan point guard Jeremey Fears began to find holes in the Hawkeye defense. After the 10-minute mark of the first half, Michigan State went on an 18-2 run which results in a 29-to-14 lead with five minutes to play before the half.
The teams traded baskets in the final few minutes of the half and the Spartans took a 35-21 lead into the half time locker room.
Fears led all scorers with 10 points at the half. Kohler had eight points and eight rebounds at the break. Jordan Scott and Carr each had six points, with all of Carr’s point coming in the final five minutes of the half. Scott hit his second three-point shot of the year, which was a rare bright spot in the Spartans' 3-for-12 shooting from deep on the evening.
Carr would stay hot in the early portion of the second half. The high-flying junior scored nine of the Spartans first 13 points as Michigan State built a 20-point lead five minutes into the half.
Iowa made a brief push midway through the second half thanks to a few made three-pointers, free throws, and some good passing leading to a few dunks and layups. The majority of this scoring came with Fears on the bench.
Once Fears returned to the game, the Spartans were able to push the lead back over 18 points and Iowa would get no closer.
The large working margin in the second half allowed Tom Izzo to give more time to some of the younger Spartans. Redshirt freshman Jesse McCulloch scored seven of his nine points after half time in 11 minutes of action.
Harvard transfer Denham Wojcik logged seven minutes and scored his first three points and first made field goal as a Spartan.
Michigan State now turns full attention to the final notable challenge on the non-conference season as No. 4 Duke comes to the Breslin Center on Saturday. The game tips off at noon and the game will be nationally televised on Fox.
