EAST LANSING – Four regular-season games remain for Michigan State basketball to secure one of the three remaining top seeds in the Big Ten Tournament.
First, however, Tom Izzo wants to solve the hex of Mackey Arena.
The Spartans have not won at Purdue in more than 12 years. And No. 13 MSU on Thursday, Feb. 26, kicks off one final true road swing before the postseason when it faces the eighth-ranked Boilermakers.
“I know we haven’t won in Mackey in a while,” point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. said after practice Tuesday. “So that’s definitely gonna be a challenge and something we try to do.”
No. 3 Michigan assured at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title Tuesday with a home win over Minnesota, locking up one of the triple-byes to the Big Ten Tournament that tips off March 10 in Chicago. The four top seeds won’t play until March 13 at United Center.
Both MSU and Purdue own identical 22-5 overall and 12-4 Big Ten records. They are battling No. 10 Illinois, No. 11 Nebraska and Wisconsin for the three remaining passes to the quarterfinal round. Two of those schools eventually will open postseason play March 12 and then need to win four games in four days to try and secure the tournament title and the Big Ten’s automatic qualifying spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s what to watch for in this 8 p.m. critical matchup (Peacock/NBC Sports) that is the lone Big Ten game of the night Thursday.
Mackey mission
The Spartans’ last win at Mackey was Feb. 20, 2014, a 94-79 victory. That game was two weeks after current 19-year-old MSU freshman guard Jordan Scott’s seventh birthday.
Needless to say, it’s been a while. And the Spartans’ seven visits since have resulted in both blowout and heartbreaking defeats.
MSU lost in 2016 at Mackey in overtime by a point but still won the Big Ten title, then fell by 17 points in 2017. In their back-to-back title seasons, the Spartans lost at Purdue by 10 in 2019 and by 29 in 2020. They lost again by 10 in 2021 and by 16 in 2023.
The last time MSU played at Mackey, on March 2, 2024, Purdue held on for a 80-76 win behind 32 points from Zach Edey. The Boilermakers won the outright Big Ten title that season en route to their first Final Four appearance since 1980 and a runner-up finish to national champ Connecticut.
Coen Carr, Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler are the only remaining Spartans who have played at Mackey. Fears did not play the 2024 game after he was shot in December 2023, but he did make the trip to experience the environment.
“The crowd is crazy. And when I played there, the problem was Edey was still there,” Carr said Tuesday. “They have a great crowd, they always play good there.”
MSU won the lone meeting between the two rivals last season, 76-66, on Feb. 18, 2025, at Breslin Center. It ended a five-game losing streak to Purdue and was part of the Spartans’ 17-3 outright Big Ten championship season.
Mackey remains a tough place to play, but coach Matt Painter’s team this season has proven fallible at home. No. 5 Iowa State walked in and pounded the Boilermakers, 81-58, on Dec. 6. Purdue then lost to the Illini on Jan. 24 (88-82) and to U-M on Feb. 17 (91-80). The Boilermakers have won five of their last six following a three-game losing streak in late January.
Izzo cranked up simulated crowd noise during practice Tuesday to get the Spartans prepared for the cauldron of cacophony they’re about to endure.
“It helps a lot. It gets you used to it,” Carr said. “We always try to do that when we’re going to arenas like that, that are known to be loud and have great crowds. We’re just trying to get used to talking with all this noise and still being able to play tired when it’s loud.”
After facing the Boilermakers, MSU heads to Bloomington to face Indiana on Sunday (3:45 p.m./CBS). Purdue dominated the Hoosiers on Friday at Mackey, 93-64, while the Spartans survived Sunday at home against Ohio State, 66-60. MSU then wraps up the regular season next week Tuesday at home against Rutgers and on the road March 8 at U-M.
“We talked a lot with the group about what the next couple of days are gonna be like and what the next couple of weeks are gonna be like,” Izzo said. “Like I told you three weeks ago, our schedule ends about as tough as anybody’s.”
Looking for more
Izzo pointed to wanting to get more out of Cam Ward and Jesse McCulloch, down the stretch. And contributions from the two young big men would be greatly beneficial against the Boilermakers.
Ward is averaging 5 points and 4.3 rebounds in 15.1 minutes. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound freshman suffered a wrist injury against North Carolina on Nov. 27 that altered his offensive trajectory from a seven-game start to his MSU career in which Ward posted 7.3 points and 5.1 boards.
“I definitely think I can make more of an impact,” Ward said Tuesday. “I just gotta be able to be consistent with that impact. I can’t have one good game and then have a bad game, and now we’re back to square one.
McCulloch has played more sporadically and averages 2.5 points and 1.4 boards in his 7.8 minutes. However, Izzo knows the size both the 6-11, 245-pound redshirt freshman and Ward possess will be vital in the final weeks, particularly after MSU’s starting big men Kohler and Cooper have each experienced some foul trouble in recent games. Kohler fouled out against Ohio State, while Cooper had four in a loss at Wisconsin.
“I talked to Cam a long time (Monday) night,” Izzo said. “I think him and Jesse need to do more. …We learned the other day that there could be foul trouble. When you get the NCAA tournament, and things might get called tighter. So we’re putting kind of a big emphasis on those two guys.”
Purdue update
Painter, who in his 21st season at Purdue, is second only to Izzo in seniority among Big Ten coaches. And Izzo believes the Boilermakers will put together a similar test to the team he’s faced against Painter and his mentor, Gene Keady, over 31 seasons leading MSU.
“It’ll be the most physical game maybe we’ve seen in a while, I think,” Izzo said. “I think they’re very physical, and in a good way, too.”
Izzo pointed to Purdue’s post players’ performance with the help of senior point guard Braden Smith, who ranks second in the nation behind Fears in assists per game at 8.7. Those numbers are complemented by 6-9 senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who averages 13.3 points and 9 rebounds. South Dakota State transfer Oscar Cluff, a 6-11 senior center, adds 10.1 points and 7.3 boards, while 7-4 sophomore Daniel Jacobson 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds off the bench.
But Smith remains the fuel for the Boilermakers’ engine. The 6-foot, 170-pound senior averages 14.9 points, 8.7 assists and 3.8 rebounds and in January passed former MSU star Cassius Winston as the Big Ten’s all-time assist leader. Shooting guard Fletcher Loyer, a Clarkston product whose brother Foster began his college career at MSU, is second at 13.6 points a game while making 40.2% from 3-point range.
Prediction
The Smith-vs.-Fears matchup lives up to its billing of two high-intensity competitors scrapping and clawing for 40 minutes. But it’s the Boilermakers’ interior strength, outscoring opponents by nearly eight points a game in the paint, that trips the Spartans. The pick: Purdue 77, MSU 75.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Boilermakers
Matchup: Michigan State (22-5, 12-4 Big Ten) vs. Purdue (22-5, 12-4 Big Ten).
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Thursday; Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana.
TV/radio: Peacock/NBC Sports; WJR-AM (760).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball looks to end Mackey hex vs Purdue