Rutgers forced No. 7 Michigan State into a halfcourt game Tuesday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena. The Spartans came averaging 17.3 fastbreak points per game — good for 12th nationally — and had only two of those by intermission.
They eventually found themselves down 12 with 9:39 remaining in regulation against a Rutgers team hovering near the bottom of the Big Ten standings and four days removed from a 23-point home loss to Indiana. What looked like a potential trap game on the schedule, which features a Friday night showdown with No. 3 Michigan in East Lansing, was playing out as such.
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Jeremy Fears Jr. had other plans.
The redshirt sophomore guard inspired a Spartans comeback that resulted in an 88-79 overtime win. Fears scored 27 of his season-high 29 points over the course of the second half and extra frame. He also clocked out with nine assists, two shy of Rutgers’ team total.
Fears delivered his most memorable dime in the final seconds of regulation. He started to penetrate before firing a pass to the left wing, where Divine Ugochukwu hit the game-tying 3 with 11.1 ticks left.
Michigan State (19-2, 9-1 Big Ten) went on to preserve its now-seven-game winning streak, denying the Scarlet Knights (9-12, 2-8) their sixth top-10 win under head coach Steve Pikiell.
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Rutgers came in 283rd in the country in 3-point percentage, with a 31.9% clip, and knocked down 10-of-27 attempts (37%) from long range. Freshman Harun Zrno accounted for four triples while chipping in 16 points off the bench. The Scarlet Knights were led by Tariq Francis’ 23 points. The former NJIT standout shot a combined 2 of 11 from the field in the second half and OT, though.
Pikiell’s group couldn’t buy a bucket in overtime. In fact, the Scarlet Knights didn’t record a field goal for more than four minutes in the extra frame.
Michigan State pulled ahead at the charity stripe, and that’s where Fears tallied the team’s final eight points.
Rutgers’ two Big Ten wins this season arrived in overtime. But this time, the Scarlet Knights didn’t have enough left in the tank to pull off one of college basketball’s biggest upsets of the new year.
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In addition to Fears, three other Spartans scored in double figures. Forwards Jaxon Kohler and Coen Carr piled up 12 and 13 points, respectively, and center Carson Cooper turned in 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Fears and Cooper worked a two-man game throughout the second half as Michigan State whittled its deficit.
Tom Izzo’s crew will now head home to prepare for a heavyweight match with their in-state rival.
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