INDIANAPOLIS — Any questions about Michigan State basketball’s toughness and talent should be gone, along with the question of whether the Spartans will make the NCAA tournament.
But a gritty comeback in which three guards suffered ankle injuries wasn’t enough to overcome No. 9 Purdue’s interior strength Saturday.
The top-seeded Boilermakers went on a 9-0 run after No. 7 seed MSU cut a 13-point deficit to one to eliminate Spartans in the Big Ten tournament semifinals with a 75-70 defeat.
“It was an interesting day, but I think one that we’re gonna learn and grow from and hopefully see what we can do,” said MSU coach Tom Izzo, who had openly challenged his players to display more mental and physical strength the past two months.
Zach Edey and Trevion Williams combined for 26 points and 17 rebounds as Purdue turned 15 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points.
A.J. Hoggard, one of the MSU guards injured, finished with 17 points, 10 assists and four rebounds. Senior Gabe Brown had 16 points, while Max Christie, Marcus Bingham Jr. and Malik Hall each scored nine points for MSU (22-12).
“We just continue to get better and rally each other. We don’t get too down,” Hoggard said. “I wanted this so bad for our seniors, but we didn’t get it done tonight. So we just gotta get back and get another shot at March.”
HOW THEY GOT TO THE SEMIS:Michigan State upsets Wisconsin, 69-63, in Big Ten quarterfinals
SHAWN WINDSOR:Michigan State basketball, like clockwork, coming together under Tom Izzo in March
THE BIG TEN BRACKET:Schedule, scores
Jaden Ivey scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half as Purdue (27-6) shot a blistering 50% from 3-point range and 53.6% overall in the second half.
Williams had 15 points and seven rebounds, while Edey had 11 points and 10 boards for the Boilermakers, who face No. 5 seed Iowa (25-9) in Sunday’s Big Ten tournament title game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Tipoff is 3:30 p.m. (CBS), with the NCAA tournament selection show to follow.
‘I’m proud of this team’
And for Izzo, it does not matter where the Spartans are headed or seeded. He said many of the things he saw in three games in Indy showed they are developing the toughness and tenacity needed during one-and-done time.
“I’m proud of this team and what they did,” Izzo said, “and I’m champing at the bit to get to the NCAA tournament. We are getting better.”
Eric Hunter Jr. added 11 points and Mason Gillis 10 for Purdue, which had a 43-35 overall rebounding advantage.
The Spartans shot 53.8% in the second half, including a 6-for-13 mark on 3-pointers, and had a 36-15 bench scoring edge and a 38-34 advantage in the paint thanks to driving layups. MSU committed a season-low four turnovers
Key injuries dominated a low-scoring, poor shooting first half for both teams.
First up was Tyson Walker, who twisted his left ankle while dribbling and went to the bench at the 17:35 mark of the first half. Hoggard replaced the junior at point guard, then 14 seconds later also twisted his left ankle away from the ball.
With MSU playing its third game in three days, Izzo scrambled his lineup and moved Max Christie to point guard with Jaden Akins joining him. Hoggard returned a few minutes later and played a career-high 34 minutes. Walker tried to play but had to pull himself after a 43-second stint and did not play the final 28:30 of the game.
“We were hoping Tyson, the one thing he would have gave us is the way they play ball screens. We thought we could get him some shots there, because they drop. And it just wasn’t the case,” Izzo said. “He couldn’t go. I don’t know how bad it is. I mean, it’s not broke or anything, but it’s it’s bad enough where he’ll need some time here. That’s just disappointing.”
The Spartans struggled to find offensive flow with their point guards hurting. Meanwhile, Purdue dominated inside with Edey ripping down half of his six rebounds on the offensive glass for putbacks over Bingham and MSU’s other big men. The 7-foot-4 Edey was 4-for-6 for nine points at the half, and his back-to-back post buckets — one a dunk, the next a rebound and layup — gave the Boilermakers a 25-14 lead with 5:12 left in the first half. Trevion Williams also had seven first-half points.
Izzo took a timeout, and that seemed to help MSU’s defense. Purdue went without a field goal after that Edey basket and was scoreless over the final 3:12 following a pair of Ivey free throws.
The Spartans closed the half on a 6-2 run, including the final four points on a Hoggard layup and his flip-oop assist to Mady Sissoko with 1:04 left. That also coincided with Ivey, an All-Big Ten first-teamer, appearing to suffer a left wrist injury just before the Boilermakers headed to halftime with a 27-20 lead.
The late run
Christie and Hoggard shut down Ivey offensively, holding him to five points on 1-for-6 shooting, but the 6-4 sophomore guard also grabbed six rebounds and handed out two assists.
Both teams struggled from outside, with MSU going 1-for-12 from 3-point range — with the only make coming from Bingham — and Purdue going 3-for-14. The Spartans shot 30% overall; the Boilermakers made 34.5% but owned a 24-18 rebounding edge. That included eight offensive boards that led to an 11-0 Purdue advantage in second-chance points. MSU, which had five offensive boards in the half, was outscored 14-8 in the paint, though Bingham had nine points, three rebounds, a block and a steal at the break.
Purdue continued to pound the ball inside to Edey and Williams in the second half but got more inside-out buckets as Ivey shook off his hand injury. He and the other outside shooters started to shake off the rust, with Ivey scoring seven straight Boilermaker points, including a 3-pointer. Sasha Stefanovic drained another from deep to put them up 13 with 16:30 to play.
“Obviously it was more of a defensive game in the first half,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “I thought we did a really good job getting them out of rhythm, contesting their shots, making them shoot tough 2s. And then obviously in the second half, it was a bit more of an offensive game.”
MSU quickly recovered with a 6-0 run, capped when a Hoggard steal started a break; he clanged a layup in traffic, but Christie tipped in the miss. Then Christie drained a 3-pointer, Hoggard hit a floater, and Hall drove through the lane and scored at the other side of the rim. Just like that, the Spartans were back within four points, 47-43, with 11:39 remaining.
As Ivey continued to provide Purdue’s offense, Hall scored another layup and then lobbed a perfect pass to a cutting Julius Marble for a dunk with 9:30 left. But the 6-9 junior forward fouled out with 8:32 to play on an Edey post-up move, rendering the Spartans a man short against Purdue’s bigs.
With about seven minutes left, Akins suffered a left ankle injury while guarding Ivey, who made an off-balance layup to put Purdue up five. Brown answered at the other end with a 3-pointer, and Hoggard’s driving layup with 5:43 to play pulled MSU back within 57-56.
That’s when Hunter took over, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. Izzo called a timeout after the second one with 4:15 to play, lighting into his players as they came to the sideline.
The Spartans kept scrapping, but Ivey’s athletic run-out with an acrobatic, behind-the-back layup finish and hard fall pushed it back to 10. MSU’s Hall followed a timeout with a 3-poinjter, and Izzo called a timeout of his own down seven with 1:39 left.
Williams hit a free throw as Joey Hauser picked up his fourth foul, then grabbed a rebound on a miss by Hoggard. Purdue started to milk the clock from there, and the Spartans began their wait for what’s to come next week in the NCAAs.
“We feel we can play with anybody,” Izzo said, “but we still have some things to correct.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
