Quick Hits: Iowa overcomes early foul trouble to upset Michigan State at the Breslin Center.

IOWA CITY, Iowa– The Hawkeyes overcame major early foul trouble en route to an upset 78-71 win over Michigan State. Iowa, who was fresh off its first quad-1 win of the season, picks up its biggest victory of the season. It’s the fifth victory over Michigan State in the past six games.

Michigan State’s Mady Sissoko and Iowa’s Owen Freeman picked up two fouls in the first 3:04 and were forced to head to the bench. Freeman scored Iowa’s first two buckets. When the two bigs went out, the offense went into overdrive. Iowa freshman forward Ladji Dembele hit his first three-pointer since Dec. 16. Spartan point guard Tyson Walker hit a pair of three-pointers as the teams were knotted up at 11 through the first five minutes.

Dembele would give Iowa a nice spark with a pair of assists, but would pick up his second foul with 11:52 remaining in the first half. Fran McCaffery had to go deep into his bench with junior forward Even Brauns. Despite Iowa’s notable ‘two foul and you sit for the remainder of the first half’ rule, Dembele was brought back in with nine minutes to go. He would quickly pick up his third foul.

With Iowa battling major foul trouble, Patrick McCaffery and Ben Krikke would take control of the offense. Iowa trailed by three, but Patrick would score seven of the game’s next nine points to help the Hawkeyes take a 34-28 lead. Krikke would finish a contact lay-up to put Iowa up by eight.

Aggression, energy and hustle are the keys to competing with the Spartans inside the Breslin Center. That’s exactly what Iowa showed. On a possession that included three offensive rebounds, Krikke found freshman Pryce Sandfort on a kick-out pass and he drilled the three. The Hawkeyes would take a 45-33 lead at half.

Iowa’s interior defense has been a storyline all season long, but they only allowed Michigan State to have four first-half points in the paint. After sitting on the bench for 17 minutes, Freeman opened up the second half with a block on defense and a layup on the other end. But it wouldn’t last long– the likely Big Ten Freshman of the Year picked up another two fouls and was sent to the bench with 16:40 remaining.

The Hawkeye offense would start to rattle once Freeman went to the bench. Iowa would miss its next five shots and go more 5:45 without a field goal. Michigan State would give the Breslin Center crowd a chance to finally get loud as they cut Iowa’s 16-point lead down to eight. Tony Perkins, who had been quiet most of the night, finished a difficult layup to give Iowa a 10-point lead at the under-12 minutes.

After going 0-4 in the first half, Michigan State’s AJ Hoggard would pour in eight points in the first eight minutes to help spark the comeback. Iowa’s half-court offense struggled and the Spartans continued to pour in three-pointers. Tom Izzo’s crew would keep within arms’ length and stay active defensively.

Whenever Michigan State got within seven, Iowa would strike back. Krikke would hit a tough post shot or Iowa would find someone cutting to the rim for a layup. The Hawkeyes have held second-half leads in each of the past few road games, but haven’t been able to always close the deal. They’d be challenged against on Tuesday.

Michigan State would get back within five points with 2:31 remaining after going on a 6-0 run that was capped off by a Malik Hall dunk. Iowa would respond with a Sandfort layup, a stop and a Freeman dunk to extend Iowa’s lead to nine with 54 seconds remaining. After having struggles throughout the season in crunch time, Iowa finished the job in East Lansing.