Malik Reneau had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Indiana snapped a five-game losing streak with a 71-67 upset of No. 11 Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., on Tuesday night.
Oumar Ballo supplied 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Hoosiers (15-10, 6-8 Big Ten), while Myles Rice and Luke Goode had 10 points apiece.
Jaden Akins led Michigan State (19-5, 10-3) with 14 points, and Jase Richardson added 13.
Spartans coach Tom Izzo remained tied with longtime Indiana coach Bob Knight for the most wins in conference history (353).
Indiana trailed most of the first half but finished the frame with a 9-0 run to take a 32-29 lead.
Michigan State scored the game’s first seven points. After Indiana pulled within two points, the Spartans scored the next 10 points for a 20-8 lead. Richardson finished off that outburst with a layup.
The Hoosiers tightened up, and they later moved within four points, 24-20, on a Goode 3-pointer. Richardson’s jumper with 4:11 left in the first half wound up being the Spartans’ last points of the period.
Rice answered with a 3-pointer and Ballo scored the next four points to give Indiana the lead at 30-29. Goode hit two free throws for the final points of the first half.
The Hoosiers stretched their run by scoring the first six points of the second half. Ballo had the first basket of that rally, and Reneau scored the next two off Spartans turnovers.
Akins stopped the run with a layup. A Reneau layup off another Michigan State turnover soon gave Indiana a 42-35 lead, but the Spartans ended up cutting their deficit to two, 50-48, on two Carson Cooper free throws with 6:17 to go.
A pair of Reneau layups, sandwiching a Trey Galloway dunk, lifted the Hoosiers to a 61-52 lead with 3:14 remaining.
Then came a run by the Spartans. Baskets by Jaxon Kohler, Richardson and Tre Holloman cut Indiana’s lead to three, 61-58. Akins’ putback with 32 seconds left trimmed Indiana’s advantage to 62-60.
It then became a free-throw-shooting contest. Indiana made nine foul shots in the last 30 seconds to clinch the win.
–Field Level Media
