Spartans' Home Streak Continues
Michigan State started fast in each half, allowing the Spartans to coast through the rest of their victory over Iowa.
The fifth-ranked Spartans beat No. 25 Iowa 94-70 Sunday after opening with a 13-2 run and outscoring the Hawkeyes 18-7 after halftime.
Michigan State (20-3, 9-3) extended the nation's longest home-winning streak to 42 games and won 20 games for a fourth consecutive season for the first time in school history.
It has beaten teams by an average of 22 points during the streak at the Breslin Center.
"We got off to a great start," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, "hit a little slump in the middle and in the second half, we focused in the best that we have."
Jason Richardson had 21 points and seven steals, Andre Hutson scored 17 points, Charlie Bell had 16 and Zach Randolph added 14 points.
|
The Hawkeyes have been without Luke Recker since he broke his right knee cap Jan. 27. They are 1-4 without Recker after going 16-4 with him.
"That was a different team with him," Izzo said.
Michigan State looked like it had seven days to prepare for the Hawkeyes, which it did.
Six Spartans scored the first six baskets, and Michigan State's defense which gave up 36 3s in the previous three games, appeared much improved.
Iowa missed 16 of its first 18 shots, and it wasn't able to get closer than nine points after the Spartans' early run.
"After having so much time off, we really wanted to start off strong," Richardson said. "We weren't worried much about our offense. We just wanted to pick it up on defense becase that's where we've been struggling."
Michigan State led 38-28 at halftime and it was ahead 56-35 after the early second-half run. The Spartans led by as many as 30 points.
The game featured the nation's top rebounding team, Michigan State, which outrebounds teams by an average of 16.6 a game, against the country's top rebounder, Reggie Evans, who averages 12 rebounds a game.
The Spartans were outrebounded 40-32 for the first time since beating Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament last season. Evans grabbed nine rebounds but scored only two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
"We have been a good rebounding team all year long and that is something that has been a bright spot," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "Right now, we're having two problems and it's pretty simple. We cannot score on one end and we can't keep it out on the other end."
Michigan State made 53.6 percent of its shots and held Iowa to 33.8 percent.
©2001 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed