Michigan State Basketball: 3 positives from tough loss at No. 8 Iowa

1. This team showed more fight than it had in a month

For the first time since an early-January game against Rutgers — or even the following game in the first half against Purdue — Michigan State showed some fight. The bench showed some energy and it felt like this was a completely different team.

Even before the season when the Spartans were a top 15-20 team, this road game against Iowa was looked at as a sure loss. After three straight losses, everyone expected this to be a slaughter. Michigan State didn’t give up and showed some serious fight on Tuesday when it would have been easier to just fold because that’s what everyone was banking on.

There were a few points in this game when it was obvious that the Spartans haven’t given up on the season just yet and the fire and fight was finally starting to show. First, it was catching fire out of the gate and extending a first-half lead to double-digits. Next, it was falling behind by five at halftime only to come out of the locker room and fight back and not give up. Lastly, it was falling behind 79-70 late in the second half in what looked to be a pull-away win for Iowa but ended up as a tight one with a late shot at tying things up by Josh Langford.

Michigan State could have just rolled over and taken an easy loss like everyone expected, but there’s too much talent on this team for that to happen and the Spartans realized that on Tuesday.

Aaron Henry played one of his best games as a Spartan, Langford hit some huge shots, Joey Hauser finally showed life again and Rocket Watts got some swagger back.

The fight is there again.