EAST LANSING – Carson Cooper vividly remembers Michigan State’s last trip to Iowa.
The junior center recalls a commanding advantage late and a team trying to get its walk-on players on the floor to close out a victory.
Neither happened.
The Spartans blew a 13-point lead in the final 90 seconds of what ultimately ended in a stunning 112-106 loss in overtime two years ago.
“I’ve not slept for a year and a half,” coach Tom Izzo quipped when asked about that defeat following practice on Tuesday. “I just started sleeping over that one like back in November.”
No. 8 Michigan State (24-5, 15-3) will return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to face Iowa on Thursday (8 p.m., FS1) after securing at least a share of the Big Ten championship due to Michigan’s home loss against Maryland on Wednesday. A victory in Iowa City would clinch an outright title before hosting the Wolverines on Sunday in the regular-season finale.
Michigan losing back-to-back games at home meant an anticlimactic crown for the Spartans and they want no part in sharing. Following Sunday’s victory against Wisconsin, Cooper served up motivation to his teammates about the matchup against the Hawkeyes (15-14, 6-12).
“Right after Wisconsin, I sent the screenshot of the final score (in 2023) to the group chat for the new guys and some of the younger guys,” he said, “to really understand the impact that this game has and how personal it is.”
Iowa hit six triples during that final push of the second half, including Payton Sandfort’s at the top of the arc with three seconds to go to send the game to overtime tied at 101.
“It happened, in the strangest way it happened too,” Izzo said. “It wasn’t even like we missed a bunch of free throws, it was just they were making 3s and we were making two free throws.”
As Iowa celebrated the improbable comeback on its home court, Jaden Akins walked off with hands on his head in disbelief. It was a brutal late-February loss in a challenging season.
“We had the game won and ended up losing,” Akins said. “It definitely hurt to lose that way but I feel like we learned from it and we’re a new team this time.”
While Michigan State will take a five-game winning streak, including four in a row against ranked teams, to Iowa City, the Hawkeyes have lost 10 of 13 heading into senior night. That has led to speculation about the future of 15-year coach Fran McCaffery, who on Tuesday said he remains “fully committed” to the program.
“Fran ain’t going out with a season that isn’t superb in my humble opinion,” Izzo said, “nor should he in my humble opinion and nobody should even be thinking or talking about it in my humble opinion.”
Iowa could potentially miss the Big Ten Tournament by not finishing in the top 15 in the standings. However, the Hawkeyes are 20th in the nation in scoring at 82.2 per game and can knock down a flurry of 3-pointers in a hurry, just like two years ago.
If the Spartans secure an outright Big Ten title on Thursday night, Izzo promised there would be no celebration on the court. The way their last trip there ended, just leaving with a victory will rinse a bad taste for those making the return.
“That just brings our intensity up and the personal level even more,” Cooper said of returning to Iowa. “We’ve got some get-back to go.”
