Michigan State ground out a win on Friday night against a tough opponent in Ole Miss to advance to play Auburn in the Elite Eight.

The Spartans trailed the entire game, except for when it mattered most. The term 'survive and advance' has been synonymous with March Madness forever, and this game was a prime example of that phrase for MSU.

To give themselves a chance to win, the Spartans first had to keep the game within reach. They had to make sure the Rebels didn't run away with it and build a lead that would have been insurmountable. They were successful in doing just that, as MSU clawed back from a 10-point first half deficit and a 9-point second half deficit.

In fact, the Spartans tied the Rebels ten different times throughout the game, but were only able to secure and hold the lead for the last 1:27 of the game.

After starting the game for the first time in his collegiate career, Coen Carr ended the game with 15 points in front of his hometown crowd, with the most memorable moment coming late in the game following a steal by Jeremy Fears Jr.

Carr flushed it home and the MSU crowd erupted.

"It was a struggle in the first half, we got down, got down like 10," said Carr. "We just kept fighting back. We didn't try to do it with just one player. We didn't try to do it all at once. We just tried to go one play at a time and crawl back and once we got the lead we just able to hit free throws and get stops to keep it."

Fears agreed.

"We were down early, basically the whole first half, they came and they made a run and it was big time," Fears started. "Just the fact that we were able to pull away. We made some big time plays and some big time shots when it mattered. Just shows the grit and toughness for the team."

Fears believes that in his those moments this team is filled with guys that will step up, stating that 'big time players, make big time plays.'

Tre Holloman called it a "relief" to get the win at the end of the game. He hit the last two sets of free throws to seal the game for the Spartans.

"Make it," said Holloman, about what was going through his mind. "I gotta make it. I gotta do this for my team. Being the captain, I want the ball in my hands to make the last free throws. Shout out to my teammates for giving it to me."

The leading scorer on the night, Jase Richardson, was back to his regular form, ending the game with 20 points. Richardson said that he and his teammates discussed the things that needed to be adjusted at halftime and the team took all the changes in stride.

"We were being soft, so we knew we had to come in and fight as hard as possible, get to those boards because one rebound could change the whole game," he said.

And it did: