MINNEAPOLIS – Two days after being accused of dirty play by its biggest rival, Michigan State basketball again let its physical presence overtake everything else.
And Jeremy Fears Jr. once again was at the center of it all.
After fighting back to cut a 12-point deficit to five with 13:28 to play, the third-year sophomore point guard got called for a technical foul when he delivered a back kick to the groin of Minnesota’s Langston Reynolds. That started a 22-11 run for the Gophers as the game continued to get more and more testy.
Somehow, the Spartans rallied back again. Coen Carr, Jordan Scott and Trey Fort delivered offensive firepower that had been missing, but it wasn’t enough as No. 10 MSU lost its second straight, 76-73, as Minnesota fans stormed the court after the victory.
Carr scored all 16 of his points with all six of his rebounds in the second half as MSU pulled back into it after trailing by 16. Scott scored a career high 15 points in his first start and combined with Fort to go 7-for-11 from 3-point range in the Spartans’ comeback.
Fears finished with 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting with 11 assists, but that wasn’t what anyone was focused on from the back-to-back Big Ten player of the weeks.
Fears later hit Reynolds in the head on a drive and then attempted a similar leg sweep to the one that got Michigan coach Dusty May riled up Monday. Izzo sent him to the bench with 4:42 to play, a major problem with backup point guard Divine Ugochukwu out after suffering an injury in the first half.
The Spartans (19-4, 9-3 Big Ten) fell behind by as many as 16 before Fears returned with 1:50 to play to a chorus of boos from the already hostile Williams Arena crowd. And Fears again delivered another hard, away-from the ball hit to Reynolds in front of MSU’s bench in the final seconds that went uncalled.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 22 points with seven rebounds for Minnesota (11-12, 4-8), which snapped a seven-game losing streak. The Gophers shot 47.8% and hit 10 of 21 3-pointers ,while Reynolds had 14 points and eight assists among five players in double figures.
Fort had 12 points for MSU, while Jaxon Kohler had nine points and nine rebounds.
Jordan Scott’s turn
Izzo broke up the starting lineup for the first time in 2026, moving freshman Jordan Scott into the shooting guard spot for the first time in his career. That broke a stretch of 12 straight starts there for Divine Ugochukwu, along with one game he sat out due to illness in which Kur Teng started his fourth game of the season.
Scott hit a long jumper to open the scoring for MSU, but Izzo struggled to navigate his altered rotation. And it got worse when Ugochukwu appeared to injure his left foot with 6:35 left in the first half and went back to the locker room.
The Spartans looked offensively discombobulated from the outset, committing three turnovers early in falling behind, 17-8, as Minnesota caught fire from the perimeter. The Gophers went 7-for-14 from 3-point range in the opening half and shot 50% from the floor, while MSU managed to make just 8-of-24 overall.
The Spartans trailed 32-21 at the half. It was their lowest scoring output since they had 21 in the first half at Maryland last season before rallying to a win on Tre Holloman’s last-second 3-pointer. MSU’s starters were a combined 3-for-16, including 0-for-4 from Coen Carr with no rebounds and Carson Cooper was 0-for-2 with four boards. Cam Ward’s five points led the Spartans.
Out of the break, Scott – who was 1-of-2 in the opening half – caught fire to get the Spartans back early in the second half. He drilled a pair of 3-pointers and a turnaround jumper in the paint, pulling them back within five points.
Fears falters
That’s about when the game turned, with Fears’ temperament once again in the spotlight.
Minnesota’s Langston Reynolds was called for a foul on Fears with 13:28 to play in the second half with MSU within five, 45-40. Gophers first-year coach Niko Medved asked for a late review on the play, and Izzo was furious and yelling at the refs. But the replay clearly showed Fears kicking the Minnesota defender’s groin.
After review, Fears was assessed a technical foul and Izzo benched him for Denham Wojcik, with Ugochukwu on the bench in a sweatsuit. Cade Tyson hit the two technical free throws, then Minnesota re-extended its lead to nine on a layup by Crocker-Johnson.
The game got even more testy and physical from there. Scott stripped a ball on defense that MSU couldn’t recover, and Tyson collected it and scored through a foul by Teng.
On the ensuing play, Scott lobbed a pass to Carr for a layup in traffic. But refs immediately stepped in and whistled Carr for an offensive foul after his elbow hit Crocker-Johnson in the face. The call was upheld on review, and MSU trailed by 13 – its largest deficit to that point. Then Carr hammered Crocker-Johnson at the other end as the Minnesota forward went for a dunk attempt, then made 1 of 2 to build the lead to 14.
Fears again delivered a hit to the head as Reynolds drove, but Scott was called for the foul with 4:42 to play. Izzo immediately sent him back to the bench for Wojcik. Reynolds again attacked scott on the baseline on the next possession, converting a three-point play after another foul. The Gophers’ lead swelled to 67-51, squelching any hope the Spartans had of making a comeback as Fears sat for almost three minutes.
Carr tried to will MSU back into it, however, scoring 11 of his team’s 13 points to pull within 69-60 with 1:35 left on a putback dunk off a Scott miss. Then when Reynolds missed a pair of free throws with 1:11 left, Scott drilled a 3-pointer at the other end to make it a two-possession game with inside a minute to play. Fort buried another after a Gophers free throw from Tyson to cut it within four with 44 seconds remaining, then made it 73-71 with his third 3-pointer of the half with 19.6 to play after Isaac Asuma split two free throws.
But Asuma hit four at the line in the final 15 seconds, and Kohler missed a 3-pointer in between to finish off a wild, frantic, physical fracas.
What’s next
The games continue to get bigger and more important to the Big Ten title race Saturday night when No. 6 Illinois visits East Lansing. Tipoff is 8 p.m. (Fox) at the Breslin Center. The Illini (19-3, 10-1) are tied with No. 2 Michigan atop the conference standings heading into their game Wednesday night at home against Northwestern. MSU has won three straight against Illinois, including twice last season, but the two teams play just once in the regular-season this year.
Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball shocked by lowly Minnesota after flat effort
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
