What stood out in Michigan State’s 63-61 win over Iowa

Michigan State defeated Iowa by a final score of 63-61 on Thursday night in East Lansing. The Hawkeyes had two chances to win it at the end of the game, but Payton Sandfort missed both shots and the Spartans held on for the victory.

Here is what stood out from the game.

The biggest storyline of the night was obviously the return of senior forward Malik Hall. Hall was a catalyst for the Spartans in the win over the Hawkeyes. He contributed 11 points, four assists and three rebounds in 25 minutes. He also had a thunderous dunk that sent the Izzone and the rest of the Breslin Center crowd into a frenzy.

It was Hall’s first game back since the loss at Illinois on Jan. 13. Prior to the matchup with Iowa on Thursday night, Hall missed Michigan State’s last three games and has only played in 10 of the Spartans’ 21 games this season. He received a loud ovation from MSU fans when he first entered the game at the 16:21 mark of the first half.

“Just being out there with my guys,” Hall said when asked what the best part was about returning to the court. “(And) Spartan Nation showing love, those were kind of the best things in my eyes. Just being able to be out there again is just an opportunity that’s a blessing, so I just have to be thankful for it.”

“It felt great (to be back on the court),” Hall later added. “I was really happy just to have everybody cheering for me.”

It’s not just the points, rebounds and assists with Hall. It’s also all of the little things that he does. He brings balance to the team. Truth be told, MSU is a different team, and a better team, when Hall is healthy and is on the court.

“If I had to pick a number one star (for the game), it was Malik,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said about Hall. “To do what he did with two days of practice, maybe a couple of walkthroughs last week, he really hadn’t practiced much – maybe two weeks in the last two-and-a-half months.

“It is more comforting when he’s out there because he just helps,” Izzo later added. “He knows where to be, he knows what to do. I was surprised he moved as well as he did…The guy just does a lot of things.”

Izzo added that Hall will be sore, but now the Spartans have to “pray to God that (Hall’s) hanging in there” after the game and that he avoided aggravating his foot.

A lot of the things that Hall does can’t be quantified, though. His intangible traits combined with his talent make him a special player. If there are any questions about how much Hall impacts the game – with his versatile skill set, with his veteran leadership, with his determination, with his energy – look no further than his game-high plus/minus number of plus-13 (+13).

When Hall is on the court, he also brings tranquil vibes to his head coach.

“Malik Hall brings some calmness to me,” Izzo said. “If nobody else, he brings it to me.”

When asked about the “calmness” factor that Hall provides, he had this to say:

“It’s just my personality,” Hall said in the locker room after the game. “I’m very nonchalant, very mellow-tone kind of, I’m very relaxed. We have a lot of chaos at times, and it’s good chaos, but sometimes everything just needs to calm down, and certain people have to be turned to in certain ways.”

As for how his foot felt after the game, Hall said he felt fine.

“I feel pretty solid,” Hall said. “I probably won’t feel it until the morning, honestly. I think adrenaline helped.”

Michigan State junior center Mady Sissoko had been struggling a bit entering Thursday’s game against Iowa. Sissoko had not recorded more than six points in a game since the win over Oakland on Dec. 21 in which he scored nine. He had not recorded more than eight rebounds in a game since the win at Wisconsin on Jan. 10 when he had 11.

In fact, in the four games prior to the matchup with the Hawkeyes, Sissoko recorded a total of 11 points (2.75 points per game), 22 rebounds (5.5 per game) and just two blocks. On Thursday, however, Sissoko had a strong bounce-back game, recording 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. He also made four of his six shots from the field and played well on defense. It was the first double-double of Sissoko’s career.

“It feels good to get your first double-double in your college career,” Sissoko said after the game. “It definitely will give me confidence moving forward.”

Sissoko doesn’t have to stuff the stat sheet to impact the game. He can help his team in other ways that don’t show up in the box score, such as with his defense, setting good screens on offense, boxing out opponents to allow others to grab rebounds and diving for loose balls to give possession to his team (something he did late against Iowa). But on Thursday, he did stuff the stat sheet, and Izzo was happy with his performance.

“Mady bounced back (in the) second half and got some big rebounds, some big plays, and I think he was as good defensively as he’s been (this season)” Izzo said. “I thought it was a good game for him.”

Several of Sissoko’s teammates praised him for his effort as well. Look for this game to be a confidence-builder for Sissoko moving forward.

Michigan State fell into an early 10-0 hole to begin the game against Iowa. MSU missed its first nine shots of the game. Interestingly, the Spartans shot just 12-for-31 in both halves (24-for-62 overall, 39%), but after the 0-for-9 start from the floor, MSU did make 12 of its final 22 shots in the first half (54.5%).

The slow starts are becoming a theme for the Spartans, as it’s now happened in three of the past four games. Izzo has taken notice.

“It was not a lot of fun out there, and it was a lot of fun on the bench,” Izzo said about the early struggles. “I thought we missed some good shots, took a couple bad shots, had a couple of turnovers. It just didn't look like we were moving the ball in sync and that's what I have a problem right now with our team if you asked what we've got to get better at.”

“You don’t wanna live that way,” Izzo added about Michigan State’s slow starts as of late.

The Spartans fought back, however. Michigan State ended up taking a one-point lead into halftime, 30-29, and ultimately earned the 63-61 victory.

Balanced scoring helped MSU defeat Iowa. Five players scored in the double-digits: Jaden Akins (12), Joey Hauser (11), Malik Hall (11), Mady Sissoko (10) and Tyson Walker (10).

While Izzo was frustrated with the slow start, and wasn’t thrilled with his team’s overall play, he was happy about the way the Spartans battled back and won the game.

“I should actually give us more credit than I do for that,” Izzo said about the way his team fought back. I just keep saying ‘Why the hell are we starting out that way?’ But there's no quit in our guys. We compete. We played. We found a way (to win).

“All in all, the losses don’t matter, nobody cares if you led by one (point) with eight seconds left (and lost), so the wins should be the same way,” Izzo later added. “You shouldn’t care that you were up one and won, even though you didn’t play as good. I’ll take the win.”

Izzo also mentioned that the crowd “helped us a lot” and said that the players even told him after the game how much they were thriving off of the crowd’s energy. Izzo has continuously praised the fans at the Breslin Center and MSU’s marketing team this season.

The Spartans will look to build off of the win, and Izzo thinks his team will only improve from here.

“We’re gonna get better,” Izzo said. “I think we’re gonna get better, I really do."