MINNEAPOLIS — Despite blowing a 12-point lead, the third-ranked Purdue Boilermakers managed to recover and defeat the Michigan State Spartans 67-62 in a physical quarterfinal Big Ten Tournament game on Friday.
The Boliermakers were led big man Zach Edey with 29 points and 12 rebounds and Lance Jones scored 10 points and had three steals.
Purdue will now face Wisconsin in the semifinals on Saturday.
The Spartans (19-14) got 15 points from Tyson Walker, Malik Hall added 12 points and Tre Holloman scored 10 points for the Spartans.
Michigan State looked as though they would give head coach Tom Izzo another big win in his 1,000th game at the helm. The Spartans outscored the Boilermakers 18-0 in fast-break points and even outrebounded them 37-36 for the game.
“As long as we keep guarding and taking care of the basketball, we’re going to give ourselves a chance,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said.
Walker made key plays down the stretch to lead the Spartan surge, knocking down a mid-range jumper to tie it with 1:41 left, but Fletcher Loyer answered with a 3-pointer on the other end for Purdue to make it a two-possession game.
Xavier Booker got a clear look on a three-point attempt from the top of the key with 1:05 remaining that would've tied it back up, but the ball rolled around the inside of the rim and shot out.
Purdue is now two wins away from winning both the outright regular season title and the conference tournament in consecutive years. The only other team to accomplish that feat is Michigan State (1999, 2000), who wound up winning the national championship. It also marks the last time a Big Ten team won it all.
Mississippi State 73, (5) Tennessee 56
NASHVILLE — The Mississippi State Bulldogs might have gone from bubble team to tournament team with their shocking 73-56 win over the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Cameron Matthews and Josh Hubbard scored 18 points each as the Bulldogs (21-12) never trailed against the SEC regular season champs and might have solidified their chances at making the NCAA Tournament next week.
For Tennessee (24-8), the loss might have dashed all hope of their chances of being a No. 1 seed with the NCAA tournament pairings to be announced on Sunday
The Bulldogs took a dominating 38-19 lead into halftime break after shooting 62.5% from the floor. Shawn Jones Jr. capped off the opening half with a slam at the buzzer after a rare miss by a teammate. Tennessee was held to a season-low for points in the first half, three fewer than the last time these teams met.
Mississippi State pulled ahead by as much as 23 midway through the second half.
Tennessee used a 10-0 run in the second half to get within 60-48, as their large following orange-clad supporters desperately tried to pump some life back into the team.
But Jeffries nailed a 3-pointer and then added a layup to bury Tennessee's hopes of a comeback.
“We’re not happy with a lot of things that happened today, things that shouldn’t have happened,” said Vols head coach Rick Barnes. “There’s nothing that did happen that we can’t fix.”
The Volunteers were led by Zakai Zeigler who had a game-high 20 points, and Jahmai Mashack added 10.
Mississippi State will face No. 12 Auburn in the semifinals on Saturday. The two teams split the series in the regular season, as each team won on their home floors.
Comments