March 11, 2005

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2005 BIG TEN

TOURNAMENT

Game Six • March 11, 2005 • United Center • Chicago, Ill.

#7 Iowa 71 (21-10), #2 Michigan State 69 (22-6)

Iowa advances to play in the semifinals at 3:05 p.m. CST Saturday

GAME NOTES

The No. 2 seed falls to 14-4 in Big Ten Tournament (BTT) games, including a 1-2 mark vs. No. 7 seeds.  Iowa improves to 10-6 in BTT games and 3-1 as a No. 7 seed.  The Hawkeyes also improve to 3-4 in quarterfinal contests and 7-4 in BTT games played at the United Center.  Iowa improves to 8-5 in all games played at the United Center (W, 83-53 vs. Texas Tech and L, 80-62 vs. Duke in 2002).  Michigan State falls to 4-4 in BTT quarterfinal games and 8-6 overall.

Iowa advances to play the winner of the Wisconsin vs. Ohio State game in the semifinals tomorrow at 3:05 p.m. CST.  The Hawkeyes are 2-0 in BTT semifinal contests.

Iowa's 10 wins is second-best in BTT games.  Illinois ranks first (14), while Michigan State is third (8).  Iowa Head Coach Steve Alford now has nine BTT career victories (9-4), which is tops all-time ahead of Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo (8-6).

Iowa has won its last five games of the season, while the Spartans have dropped two of their last 10.

Iowa's Mike Henderson netted a career-best 17 (6-10 FG, 5-6 FT) points.  The sophomore guard matched a career-high 11 points in Iowa's first round triumph over Purdue.  The native of Waterloo, Iowa, also matched a career high with five boards.

Jeff Horner (12) and Mike Henderson (8) combined to score 20 of Iowa's first 25 points.  Horner scored all 12 of his first half points from beyond the arc (4-7).  Horner blocked a career-high two shots, only the fourth and fifth of the season for the junior guard.

Iowa's Doug Thomas pulled down a game and career-high 11 rebounds.  He pulled down 10 boards twice before.

Both teams converted 41.4 percent (12-29) from the field and corralled 18 rebounds (6 offensive and 12 defensive) in the first half.

Iowa led 34-30 at halftime, marking only the sixth time this season that Michigan State trailed at the break.  Iowa improved to 17-2 when leading at the half, while Michigan State falls to 1-5 when trailing at the break.  Teams are 4-2 when leading at the half in 2005 BTT games, with the only comebacks being Ohio State vs. Penn State and Northwestern vs. Michigan in the first round.  The Hawkeyes also improve to 17-1 when scoring between 70-79 points.  BTT teams are 4-0 when netting 71 points or more.  BTT teams that have scored 70 points or less ate 2-6.

After the higher seed won the first four BTT games, the lower seed won the last two (No. 5 Minnesota and No. 7 Iowa).

Michigan State entered tonight's game as the nation's leading free throw shooting team (.791).  Tonight the Spartans converted a season-low .500 (15-30).  The 50 percent free throw shooting is Michigan State's worst in BTT play; its previous low was .533 (16-30) vs. Penn State (3/9/01).  Michigan State's Alan Anderson, who entered the game ranked third on the Spartans' career free throw shooting list (.833) and ranked first in the Big Ten foul shooting (.927), sank only .500 (5-10) tonight.  He was 4-8 from the charity stripe in the second half, including missing two crucial free throws with 6.5 seconds left in the game. 

Michigan State's loss tonight is its fifth in its last seven BTT contests, including its third loss in its BTT opener.

The team that has recorded the most steals improves to 5-0 in BTT games this year (Iowa 7, MSU 2) and has won 19 of the last 22 BTT contests.

Iowa had four players post double figures in scoring, marking the second straight BTT contest a team had four players register double digits (Minnesota).  Mike Henderson and Greg Brunner scored 17 points each to lead the Hawkeyes, followed by Jeff Horner (16) and Adam Haluska (10).  Haluska netted all 10 points in the second stanza.

Accurate shooting had been a strength for Michigan State in the second half in the last five games (.583), but tonight the Spartans hit just .414 percent (12-29).

Michigan State's two most foul-filled games of the season have come against the Hawkeyes.  Michigan State tallied a season-high 28 fouls on 2/5/05 and tonight the Spartans were whistled for 27.