Iowa resurgence catches MSU off guard

IOWA CITY, Iowa - They stormed the floor Saturday night at a very much alive Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Fans of all ages elbowed and shoved to be part of the shock wave coming from eastern Iowa that reverberated all the way to the Michigan State campus.

The once-lowly Iowa men's basketball team pulled off the biggest upset of the Big Ten Conference season with a 43-36 surprise against the sixth-ranked and league favorite Spartans.

"We thought it was important to play in the halfcourt more than the fullcourt, and we were able to do that," Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. "We defended with purpose, which was very important."

To add further to the incredible event that happened in front of a crowd announced at 13,044, the largest of the season at home, Iowa's first conference win came three days after getting blasted by 31 points at Ohio State.

"We said a lot of prayers," said Tony Freeman, who led Iowa with 22 points. "The Ohio State game got away from us; this game, we stayed with the game plan the entire way."

Iowa got energetic interior play on both ends from Cyrus Tate, Seth Gorney and Kurt Looby.

Freeman provided the scoring punch from the perimeter, while teamwork defense prevailed on the other end.

All that added up to the Hawkeyes' first win against a rated opponent since an 81-75 success against No. 25 Indiana on Feb. 3 last season.

"Don't take this wrong, but it's an embarrassing loss the way we played," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "I don't think we had one guy play close to the way he's capable, but Iowa had something to do with that."

Iowa won a game with fewer than 50 points for the first time since a 45-42 win against North Carolina State two seasons ago. The 36 points is the lowest scored by Michigan State since 1952.

Iowa, which didn't shoot a free throw in a loss to Drake, made 16-of-29 Saturday, while the Spartans made 1-of-4.

"We missed layups, we never got to the line and we committed 18 turnovers," Izzo said. "Disappointment to us. Hats off to Iowa."

Iowa 43, Michigan State 36

MSU (36)

Player Min FG FT Reb A F Pts

Morgan 30 5-12 0-2 4 0 4 10

Naymick 19 0-1 0-0 4 0 3 0

Suton 31 4-9 1-2 11 1 3 9

Walton 25 0-1 0-0 1 3 3 0

Neitzel 31 4-14 0-0 4 6 2 10

Ibok 4 1-1 0-0 2 0 2 2

Lucas 20 0-8 0-0 1 1 4 0

Allen 12 1-2 0-0 0 0 1 3

Summers 10 1-3 0-0 1 0 0 2

Dahlman 0+ 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Gray 18 0-1 0-0 8 0 3 0

TEAM 4

Totals 200 16-52 1-4 40 11 25 36

IOWA (43)

Player Min FG FT Reb A F Pts

Tate 28 2-3 5-12 7 0 2 9

Gorney 31 0-2 0-0 6 1 2 0

Freeman 38 5-12 7-9 2 3 2 22

Johnson 34 1-11 0-0 6 2 2 2

Kelly 34 0-5 1-2 4 0 0 1

Bohall 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Peterson 12 0-2 0-0 1 2 1 0

Looby 22 3-5 3-6 8 1 1 9

TEAM 1

Totals 200 11-40 16-29 35 9 10 43

3-points goals-MSU 3-12 (Morgan 0-1, Neitzel 2-8, Lucas 0-1, Allen 1-2). Iowa 5-21 (Freeman 5-9, Johnson 0-7, Kelly 0-3, Peterson 0-2). Turnovers-MSU 18, Iowa 10. Fouled out-None. Halftime score-Iowa 20, MSU 18. A-13,044.