WEST LAFAYETTE, IN − Jeremy Fears Jr., Kur Teng and Carson Cooper combined for 24 points in the second half as No. 13 Michigan State basketball rallied from a halftime deficit to knock off No. 8 Purdue, 76-74, at Mackey Arena.
Boilermakers point guard Braden Smith handed out a historic assist, but it was his counterpart in green and white who got the last laugh. Fears supplied 12 points and six assists, Cooper added a team-high 15 points and Teng came off the bench for 13 points.
The win is Michigan State's first at Mackey Arena since Feb. 20, 2014, ending a streak of seven straight losses for the Spartans in West Lafayette.
Big Ten postseason picture
The Spartans (23-5, 13-4 Big Ten) broke a tie with the Boilermakers in the race for the final triple-bye spot in the Big Ten. The win actually moved MSU into a three-way tie with Nebraska and Illinois for second place in the Big Ten, with the Illini facing Michigan on Friday night and the Cornhuskers taking on USC in LA on Saturday.
At the half
This one was about as equal as possible through 20 minutes, aside from a three-point Purdue lead. Points in the paint were tied, 18-18, while the Boilermakers had a slight edge in rebounds, 15-12. The Spartans got 10 points off five Boilermaker turnovers, while Purdue took advantage of hot hands beyond the arc – 6-for-11 on 3s, compared to just 3-for-9 for the Spartans.
In the box score, it was Coen Carr and Cooper leading the Spartans with seven points apiece, while Jaxon Kohler and Teng each had five. Fears added just four points, but dished out four assists in a team-high 17 minutes.
Speaking of assists, Purdue's Braden Smith picked up career helper No. 1,000 before the break, making him just the fifth Division I player with that many. (The others? LIU’s Jason Brickman, North Carolina’s Ed Cota, N.C. State’s Chris Corchiani and Duke’s Bobby Hurley.) The historic assist was part of a seven-assist, three-rebound half. He had just two points, though, on 1-for-3 shooting (with both misses on 3-point tries). Oscar Cluff led the Boilermakers with 10 points, though only two of those came in the final 15 minutes of the first half, after he outscored the Spartans by himself, 8-6, as part of a 13-6 start for Purdue.
Next up for MSU basketball
The Spartans will stick around in the Hoosier State for another game, heading to Bloomington, Indiana, for an afternoon matchup with Indiana on Sunday (3:45 p.m., CBS). The Hoosiers have lost three straight and are sliding toward single-bye territory. But they’re 13-3 at Assembly Hall this season, their first under former West Virginia and Drake coach Darian DeVries.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball gets it done in paint in upset of Purdue