January 13, 2026; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans center Carson Cooper (15) dunks the ball past Indiana Hoosiers forward Tucker DeVries (12) and forward Nick Dorn (7) in the second half at the Jack Breslin Student Event Center. Mandatory Credit: Image by Dale Young-Imagn No. 13 Michigan State earned a valuable road win on Thursday to strengthen its return to the NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans won’t have much time to enjoy it, though, as they face Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana, on Sunday afternoon.
The Spartans are ranked no. They beat No. 8 Purdue, 76-74, for their third straight win and a top-five win over a ranked opponent. Michigan State (23-5, 13-4 Big Ten) was projected as a No. 4 seed entering the tournament, but a strong finish could push it up to a No. 3 or even No. 2 seed.
“They have a really great team. This was our night,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said of the Boilermakers. “They made 3s. We weathered that whole storm of 3s. To do that on the road at Mackey Arena, I’ll give our team some credit for that.”
This was Michigan State’s first win at Purdue since a 94-79 decision on February 20, 2014. The Spartans have lost seven straight on Purdue’s home floor.
“I thought we played with a different mentality that we haven’t played with a lot lately,” Izzo said. “So hopefully that can spur us on. Now let’s go home, get a quick rest, get back quickly, and then go to Indiana.”
The Spartans, who had four players in double figures, shot 52.7% from the floor, including 57.7% in the second half. They also had just six turnovers.
“All in all, we couldn’t have played any better,” Izzo said.
Now the Spartans will look for their second win against the Hoosiers (17-11, 8-9) this season. Michigan State won the first game on January 13, 81-60, thanks to a strong performance from point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who had 23 points and 10 assists.
Indiana desperately needs a quality win to boost its chances of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers have lost three straight after winning five straight in six games.
They lost on the road to Illinois and Purdue before suffering a 72-68 home loss to unranked Northwestern on Tuesday.
“It was a tough loss. We have a great home stand here,” coach Darian DeVries said. “This was the first game. We’re at a point in the year where games are very meaningful and opportunity. We definitely wanted to start off with a good performance in front of the home stand. That didn’t happen so we definitely have to put it on the back burner. We had a big game on Sunday and we need to be ready to go.”
The Hoosiers led 39-26 in the second half and missed 11 straight field goal attempts during crunch time.
“The way forward is to keep fighting and keep moving forward,” DeVries said. “The Illinois and Purdue losses were tough. Those were two tough games, two tough teams. Not many people go in there and win. I thought our guys were ready (Tuesday). I thought they came out and focused in practice and had good energy. I thought they came out and played well in the first half. Unfortunately, we fell short in the second half.”
Lamar Wilkerson (21.0 points per game) has led the team in scoring over the past six games. The Hoosiers will need a big game from him to overcome an upset on Sunday.
–Field level media
