Michigan State basketball’s second-half resilience impressive in Iowa win

Michigan State basketball played one of its worst halves of basketball and then followed it up with one of its best in a blowout win over Iowa.

It had that feel. Michigan State was turning the ball over at a high rate and Iowa wasn’t missing many shots, leading to a four-point lead for the Hawkeyes at the half.

The start of the second half saw more of the same as the Hawkeyes raced out to an eight-point lead and were close to opening the floodgates on the Spartans who wouldn’t seem to slow down Iowa’s offensive attack.

Then a couple of Cassius Winston 3-pointers followed by Matt McQuaid buckets gave the Spartans new life. They went on a spectacular 24-2 run to recapture the lead and never looked back, winning by 15 on the road.

Not only was this a big win for the Spartans’ Big Ten title hopes, but it was one of those which could give this team a second wind come Sunday at Purdue.

Michigan State is in the midst of a rare three-game week and it has already faced two ranked foes with Purdue, just outside the AP Top 25, on the docket for Sunday. Two wins would have been nice, but three could do as much as push this team into the top-five in the rankings come Monday.

But that’s neither here nor there.

The big news here is a win at Iowa after a sluggish start where the team looked gassed. They found their legs and caught fire, making 42 percent of their threes and 53 percent from the floor.

Cassius Winston looked like his normal, dominant self, scoring 23 points with seven assists on 6-of-14 shooting and Nick Ward got back on track with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Another bright spot had to be McQuaid on both ends of the floor. He hit three big 3-pointers in the second half and even drew a smile from Tom Izzo. Also, Thomas Kithier is logging big minutes off the bench, giving Michigan State another option in the post.

Michigan State is on absolute fire right now and there doesn’t seem to be a team that is equipped to stop the Spartans. Let’s hope this keeps up in March.