Michigan State missed an opportunity to pull a full game ahead of Michigan in the Big Ten basketball standings last night after falling to the Indiana Hoosiers 79-75 in overtime. Michigan State is now 9-2 in conference play, which leaves them and the Wolverines tied atop the standings with 9 games left for both teams.
The Spartans uncharacteristically struggled at the charity stripe, converting only 8 of 22 attempts. Cassius Winston, a front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year was solid again, almost completing a triple-double by scoring 26, grabbing 8 boards and dishing out 7 assists. Possibly more impressive was Kenny Goins with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and an eye-popping 8 blocks.
Indiana, losers of their previous 7 contests, played a very hard-nosed and motivated game. Even without standing Juwan Morgan for most of the game the Hoosiers were able to out rebound the Spartans 48-40 and come away with a much needed Quadrant 1 win to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive. Romeo Langford led all Hoosiers with 19 points, but it was a team effort for Indiana who got 28 points from its bench players.
Up next for Michigan State is a road game at Illinois Tuesday at 7 (ESPN2). Indiana's next game is a home contest vs Iowa, who took down Michigan 74-59 in Iowa City Friday night.
Spartan fans can whine all they want but msu beat themselves at the line.
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