Michigan State basketball opens Big Ten with big plays inside vs Iowa

EAST LANSING — It was the perfect ending to a perfect day in Michigan State-land.

Pat Fitzgerald, winding up the Breslin Center crowd mere hours after being announced as the Spartans’ new football coach (on his 51st birthday, no less).

Launching the massive "For Sparta" fundraising campaign, which is meant to bring in $1 billion dollars for upgrading athletic venues and “enhance the student-athlete experience” (on Giving Tuesday, no less).

And Tom Izzo and his defending Big Ten-champion basketball team opening conference play with a resounding win over another ranked opponent.

Coen Carr, Jeremy Fears Jr. and Jaxon Kohler combined for 41 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists as No. 8 MSU blasted No. 25 Iowa, 71-52, on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

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The Spartans (8-0, 1-0 Big Ten), who host No. 4 Duke on Saturday (noon, Fox), are off to their best start in a decade, since the 2015-16 team opened with 13 straight wins.

Bennett Stirtz scored 14 points for the Hawkeyes (7-1, 0-1) but was held to just 4-for-10 shooting. MSU held Iowa to just 37.8% from the field.

Big inside

To say the game started out physical would be an understatement, and perhaps a misrepresentation with twitchy-whistle refs calling 23 fouls in the first half.

But as the Hawkeyes attempted to assert some toughness from the outset, the Spartans dominated inside. Kohler had back-to-back baskets inside as part of a 13-0 run, which was capped by a Jordan Scott 3-pointer and a Fears deep jumper. MSU led by as many as 16 in the first half and went into the locker room ahead, 35-21.

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Kohler had eight of his 12 points and eight of his 11 rebounds before the break as MSU had dominated scoring in the paint, 16-6. Fears, meantime, had 10 of his 14 points by halftime and was the beneficiary of four of Iowa’s 12 first-half fouls, going 8-for-8 before intermission and making all 10 of his attempts in the game.

The Spartans built their lead to as many as 24 in the second half as Carr attacked the interior off cuts for nine of his game-high 15 points and redshirt freshman Jesse McCulloch scored seven of his nine points.

MSU finished with a 34-18 scoring advantage in the paint and a 37-18 rebounding edge. Their 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass led to a 21-4 second-chance points margin.

[ MUST LISTEN: Reacting to the Pat Fitzgerald hire. Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. ]

Different moves

Izzo started Kur Teng at shooting guard for the first time since the opener against Colgate. The redshirt freshman responded by going 3-for-6 for seven points with three rebounds and used his lengthy wingspan on the perimeter to cause havoc with the Hawkeyes, whose 11 turnovers turned into 15 MSU points.

Freshman forward Cam Ward did not play after going through warmups with a wrap on his right wrist. He is considered day-to-day heading into Saturday’s game.

With Ward out, Scott got more time on the wing; the freshman finished with six points, five rebounds and two steals in 19:51. Izzo said both Trey Fort (scoreless in 13:09) and Divine Ugochukwu (two points in 16:39) were under the weather.

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball opens Big Ten play with 71-52 win vs Iowa