No. 8 Michigan State wraps up Big Ten regular-season title
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Jase Richardson scored 22 points and No. 8 Michigan State wrapped up the outright Big Ten regular-season championship with a 91-84 victory over Iowa on Thursday night.
Michigan State (25-5, 16-3) won its first conference title since 2020. The Spartans secured a share of the championship Wednesday night with Michigan’s loss to Maryland.
Down 58-48 with 12:13 left, Michigan State reeled off a 19-2 run and never trailed again on the way to its sixth consecutive victory. The Spartans scored 61 second-half points.
The Hawkeyes (15-15, 6-13) led 37-30 at halftime, taking advantage of a 22-2 surge. Michigan State missed 10 of 11 shots during that run.
Jaxon Kohler and Jaden Akins each had 15 points for Michigan State. Jeremy Fears Jr. had 14 and Tre Holloman added 11.
Josh Dix led Iowa with 18 points. Payton Sandfort and Seydou Traore had 15 apiece.
Takeaways
Michigan State: The Spartans struggled to make shots early, but stayed patient and let their defense take over in the second half. Michigan State got open looks throughout the second half, especially in transition, shooting 61.3%.
Iowa: The Hawkeyes had control for most of the game, but this one went like so many others this season. Since the loss of leading scorer and rebounder Owen Freeman to a hand injury in early February, Iowa has seemed outmanned in most games.
Key moment
Michigan State’s Coen Carr had back-to-back lob dunks in the big second-half run.
Key stat
This is the 11th Big Ten title for Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, tying him with Indiana’s Bob Knight and Purdue’s Ward “Piggy” Lambert for the record.
Up next
Michigan State hosts Michigan on Sunday. Iowa is at Nebraska on Sunday.
NC State is upset by Miami in the final game of the regular season and Kevin Keatts’ last game as coach. (1:56)
Kevin Keatts has been fired as the men’s basketball coach at NC State, the school announced Sunday, making the move less than one year after he led the Wolfpack to the Final Four.
Keatts was at the helm for eight seasons, taking NC State to three NCAA tournaments. He finished his time in Raleigh with an overall record of 151-113, going 69-84 in ACC play.
“I am extremely proud of what we accomplished during my time here,” Keatts said on social media, noting his tenure started with an NCAA investigation from the previous staff. “… As we enter this new era of college sports, I wholeheartedly believe that I am leaving the program in better position to succeed than when I started — and that the basketball program will continue to thrive when supported to the level necessary to compete.”
He concluded his message by saying he was “officially entering the portal.”
Two potential targets for NC State are VCU’s Ryan Odom and McNeese’s Will Wade, sources told ESPN.
The Wolfpack went 12-19 this season, including a 5-15 record in the ACC. They did not qualify for this year’s conference tournament.
“I want to thank Coach Keatts for his contributions to NC State and for always representing the university with class,” athletic director Boo Corrigan said in a statement. “He will always have a treasured place in Wolfpack history for the accomplishments of his 2023-24 squad and I appreciate the passion he brought to this role. We wish him and his family the best in the future.”
Keatts took over in 2017, leading NC State to the NCAA tournament in his first season with the program. The Wolfpack were on the bubble the next two seasons but likely would have sneaked into the 2020 tournament if it had not been canceled due to the COVID-19. They struggled in 2021 and 2022, going 25-36 in those two seasons.
But Keatts turned it around in 2023, guiding NC State back to the NCAA tournament before last season’s historic run through the ACC and NCAA tournaments. The Wolfpack ended the 2023-24 regular season on a four-game losing streak and seemed poised to miss the postseason entirely, but they won five games in five days at the ACC tournament — including victories over Duke and North Carolina — to earn the league’s automatic bid.
As an 11-seed in the NCAA tournament, NC State beat Texas Tech and Oakland, then they upset Marquette and Duke to advance to the program’s first Final Four since 1983.
Keatts’ contract was automatically extended by two seasons due to the run, meaning NC State will owe him around $7 million.
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Michigan State Clinches 2025 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Championship
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Michigan State Spartans claimed the 2024-25 Big Ten Conference championship with Thursday’s 91-84 win at Iowa. The win improved the Spartans to 16-3 in the Big Ten and built a two-game cushion with one game remaining.
With the win, Michigan State also secures the No. 1 seed in the upcoming TIAA Men’s Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Spartans are one of four teams who will earn a double-bye in the tournament and open postseason play on Friday.
This marks Michigan State’s 17th Big Ten championship and its first since claiming a share of the 2020 title. This is also the 11th Big Ten crown for Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, tied for the most in conference history.
Trailing 58-48 with 12:13 to play, the Spartans used a 18-2 run over the next 4:33 to build a 66-60 advantage. The Michigan State lead swelled to 17 points with just under four minutes to play.
Michigan State shot 61.3 percent from the floor in the second half, including 5-for-11 from three-point range. Jase Richardson led the Spartans with 22 points, while Jaxon Kohler and Jaden Akins added 15 points, one more than Jeremy Fears Jr.
Michigan State will close the regular season on Sunday, when it welcomes in-state rival Michigan to the Breslin Center. The game will tip at 12 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on CBS.
The 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament will be held March 12-16 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The tournament will be the first to feature a 15-team field, with the winner receiving the Big Ten’s automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.
Peacock will televise the opening three games of the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, with second-round and quarterfinal games on Thursday and Friday slated for Big Ten Network. CBS will broadcast Saturday’s semifinal games and Sunday’s championship tilt.
Tickets for the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament are available online at Ticketmaster.com. All seating is reserved for the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament. Fans can visit the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament Ticket Information page for more details.
Fans are also encouraged to visit the official Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament web site (bigten.org/MBBT) and follow Big Ten Men’s Basketball on X (formerly Twitter) (@B1GMBBall).
No. 2-Seed Women’s Basketball Advances to Big Ten Semifinal
UCLA
28-2,15-2
Big Ten
Nebraska
21-11,10-8
Big Ten
March 07, 2025 | Women’s Basketball
Thread the needle for an ANGE-OOOOOOONNNNNNNEEEEEEE ???
??: Big Ten Network | x
Mar 8 (Sat)
