East Lansing — With seconds left on the clock, sitting on the bench, Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler could hardly believe a score that, once a comfortable blowout, now teetered on the wrong side of history. On senior night, on his senior night, Rutgers had come back from a 19-point deficit all the way to within a shot.
In the end, No. 8 Michigan State survived Rutgers’ onslaught for a 91-87 win Thursday night at Breslin Center, sending off Kohler and his seniors with a win despite how hairy things got at the end.
“We were not gonna lose,” Kohler said in the locker room, less than an hour removed from his final home game. “I got nervous for a second, but I knew that we were gonna find a way to win because that’s what we do. … Us as a team, we were able to find a way to win.”
With the win, Michigan State (25-5, 15-4 Big Ten) clinched a top-four seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and with it a triple-bye into Friday’s quarterfinal games. On a five-game win streak, the Spartans have a chance to improve their resume further Sunday at No. 3 Michigan, which already clinched the Big Ten championship. Michigan State currently sits in second place, while 14-5 Illinois and Nebraska are currently tied for third place.
On the night Michigan State (25-5, 15-4 Big Ten) celebrated its seniors in the final home game of the year, it was the class a year younger than them that led the way. Carr scored 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including three straight dunks in the second half and 8-for-8 foul shooting including two makes with the pressure on at the end of the game. Point guard Fears scored 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting while dishing eight assists. Big men Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper combined for 28 points and 13 rebounds, aiding a 38-21 advantage on the glass.
Coen Carr and Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 21 points each to lead the Spartans, with Fears’ assisting eight baskets including three straight lobs to Carr in the second half. Kohler and Carson Cooper combined for 28 points and 13 rebounds, aiding a 38-21 advantage on the glass.
BOX SCORE: Michigan State 91, Rutgers 87
Despite trailing for more than 13 minutes of the first half, Michigan State outscored Rutgers 21-8 to open up what would be a 60-point second half that led to a 74-55 lead with 6:17 to play. But Rutgers kept chipping away and scored 19 points in the final 1:11, led by Tariq Francis.
Michigan State’s three four-year seniors — Kohler, Cooper and guard Nick Sanders — finish their Breslin Center careers with a 56-9 home record, 15-2 this season. But they didn’t get to sub out and kiss the Spartan logo at halfcourt as per usual tradition due to the tight score. That was a bit of a letdown to their coach, who took the blame afterward.
“Culture and traditions matter almost more than anything,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “And … I don’t think it was anybody’s fault either. It wasn’t like the guys I put in did everything wrong. We just — they made shots.”
Led by Tariq Francis’ 25 points, Rutgers (12-17, 5-13) shot 10-for-18 from 3-point range, including two on a big seven-point surge to start the Scarlet Knights’ run. Despite fouling out with 1:55 to play, Rutgers center Emmanuel Ogbole scored 13 points for the Scarlet Knights, nine of those in the second half. For the most part, though, Rutgers went small, and that posed some problems for Michigan State.
“Sometimes they’re playing like a 6-foot-6 four man and like a 6-foot 7 five,” Fears said. “So like, some of that stuff is different, especially with how our team is. We really don’t play a lot of small ball.”
If Michigan State looked for an easier outing against Rutgers than January’s game in New Jersey that required a 12-point comeback and overtime to decide, Thursday’s 31-30 lead at halftime, and 13:12 spent on the wrong side of the scoreboard, let some worry creep in.
Rutgers led by four points with 2:37 to play in the first half, aided by 10 Michigan State turnovers.
“We gave them free possessions,” Fears said. “They scored off it. They made big time, open 3s, contested 3s. And they kind of kept the game scrappy.”
Carr sparked a personal 4-0 burst to end the half that bridged into another 7-0 run after halftime. Kohler hit a contested 3 as part of that 1:40 into the second half, with his great-grandfather — one of 12 surviving Pearl Harbor veterans — in the crowd after being honored during the game.
“We had four minutes in the start of the second half where we had some real issues,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said.
The plays that really blew the game open were the lobs. Back-to-back-to-back to Coen Carr. Dunks that threatened to blow the roof off, no matter how routine they are for the junior. Freshman Jordan Scott followed with one of his own to make it 46-35 with 15:33 to play. In a hurry, the game had blown wide open.
“We were finally getting some stops,” Carr said. “You know, we felt like they were just going back and forth.”
In the first 6:03 of the second half, Michigan State blitzed Rutgers 21-8, with all of those points coming from its starting five. From then on, the game was all but at hand — at least, one would think. With 6:10 to play, Carr hit a 3 off a feed from Denham Wojcik to make it 74-55.
Earlier, with 10:56 to play, Fears took his third — and quickly, his fourth — foul as he knocked down Mark on a drive. The fourth came as Fears showed his frustration on the call, pointing his finger up at the scoreboard and twirling it around like he was calling for a review. He subbed out.
“As far as the technical, seriously, I never heard of something like that,” Izzo said. “But the ref told me that that’s right in the rulebook, so that is my fault. I should be able to relay the rules to my players.”
Fears returned at 8:26, his Spartans still up 65-52. He made a quick impact, scoring a couple of quick buckets on the break to put Michigan State up by 17 points.
Michigan State led by 19, then 12, then 15 points, 83-68, off Kohler free throws with 1:19 to play. Time to sub in the seniors. That is, until the game got tighter.
All five seniors subbed in with 1:19 to play, but things went south. Francis hit an and-one 3 in the corner, and after sixth year senior Trey Fort dribbled his way into a trap in the corner, his turnover led to a 3 for Rutgers guard Kaden Powers. That seven-point swing in all of eight seconds made it 83-75 Michigan State with 57.8 seconds to play. Powers hit another 3 to make it 85-78 15 seconds later. Lino Mark’s runner made it 88-84.
With 3.8 seconds to play, Darren Buchanan Jr. hit a 3 in the corner to make it 89-87. But Fears hit his shots at the other end to keep the game in control, and Rutgers ran out of time.
Michigan State improved to 15-2 at home this season, with losses to No. 1 Duke and No. 3 Michigan.
“We had to make sure we won the game,” Kohler said. “But the last two minutes were really emotional. It was just like this is it, and heartbreaking, but I’m thankful for everything that’s happened. For all the relationships I’ve made, and I went out the way I wanted.”
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@ConnorEaregood
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Carr, Fears lead Spartans out of senior-night trap against Rutgers
Reporting by Connor Earegood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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