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EAST LANSING - Michigan State obviously loves playing in the house of ear-drum horrors known as Breslin Center.
But the Spartans don't want to suit up for another game here this season - that would mean a trip to the NIT, not NCAA Tournament - and they recovered late Saturday night to make that very unlikely.
Down by as much as 13 to the Indiana Hoosiers, MSU roared back in the second half to run away with a 66-58 victory. A monster 28-7 run, keyed by sophomore Travis Walton's defense and freshman Raymar Morgan's offense, unleashed Breslin's noisemakers and gave the Spartans their fourth straight triumph.
"I tell you what, it was not the prettiest game in America, but it was one of the gutsiest efforts, by both teams," MSU coach Tom Izzo said of a contest that was ESPN's "GameDay" feature. "Just the whole day, I can't tell you enough why it's so important that a community and university gets behind you, because there's no way we win that game without the fans.
"I had three guys (Morgan, Walton and Drew Neitzel) walking on their tongues at end of that game, and the fans just kind of pulled them through."
MSU (21-8 overall, 8-6 Big Ten) now appears to be in great shape for its 10th straight NCAA bid, after consecutive home wins over Michigan, Iowa, No. 1 Wisconsin and the Hoosiers (18-9, 8-6). The Spartans finish the regular season with games at Michigan and Wisconsin.
"I don't know, you tell me," said MSU's Goran Suton (seven points, seven rebounds) when asked if the Spartans are in. "We don't think about it. If we go to Michigan and take care of business, we won't have to think about it."
The amazing thing about MSU's decisive stretch was the fact that star guard Neitzel had just five of those 28 points. He finished with 17 on 5-of-10 shooting, four days after slaying the Badgers with 28 and one day after coming down with the flu.
"He willed himself today," Izzo said of Neitzel.
"I talked to my teammates before the game," Neitzel said, "and I told them they had to pick me up."
MSU led 56-46 after Neitzel's pull-up jumper with 3:45 to play, but the Hoosiers got within six twice in the final three minutes. Morgan made a key play, rebounding his own miss and was fouled with 1:47 left.
His free throws restored an eight-point edge and the Spartans held on from there. Morgan made 10-of-11 from the line, helping the Spartans finish 26-of-31.
Morgan finished with 18 points and eight boards, and Walton had 13 with six assists. Walton (five) and Neitzel (eight) combined for 13 turnovers, helping the Spartans to a season-high 23, but most of those mistakes came in the game's first 30 minutes.
When it mattered most, Walton was a defensive terror, spearheading an effort that forced 10 IU turnovers in the second half. He stoked the crowd with fist pumps and screams at several moments, then led a victory lap to thank them after the game.
"It's us digging down," Morgan said of an MSU defense that seems to be getting tougher with each game. "Travis (Walton) calls us the pit bulls and says 'Pit bulls have the bite.' "
The Hoosiers shot 35.4 percent for the game and lost 31-21 on the boards. MSU made 11 of 16 shots (68.8 percent) in the second half and shot 54.5 percent overall.
Freshman guard Armon Bassett, starting in place of injured senior Earl Calloway (shoulder), poured in a game-high 25 to give the Hoosiers a chance at the upset.
But star forward D.J. White managed just nine points for Indiana, with Drew Naymick - who also had the flu - defending him solidly for most of the evening.
The day began with "GameDay" broadcasting live in the morning from Breslin, in front of about 4,000 fans.
That, coupled with MSU's upset of Wisconsin on Tuesday, prompted Izzo to call it "one of the great weeks for MSU basketball, and maybe athletics period."
Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@lsj.com.
MSU 66, Indiana 58
INDIANA (58)
Player Min FG FT Reb A F Pts
Bassett 34 7-12 7-8 1 5 3 25
White 37 1-7 7-12 10 0 2 9
Wilmont 26 0-6 0-0 3 1 3 0
Ratliff 26 4-9 0-0 0 0 1 10
Stemler 31 2-6 2-2 6 0 5 7
Suhr 22 0-1 0-0 0 2 3 0
Allen 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Shaw 14 2-6 0-0 1 0 4 5
Keeling 7 1-1 0-0 0 0 4 2
TEAM 1
Totals 200 17-48 16-22 21 8 25 58
MSU (66)
Player Min FG FT Reb A F Pts
Morgan 37 4-8 10-11 8 0 3 18
Walton 35 2-4 8-11 2 6 4 13
Neitzel 39 5-10 4-4 1 2 2 17
Naymick 32 1-3 2-2 5 0 3 4
Gray 12 1-1 0-0 2 0 3 2
Ibok 7 1-1 1-2 1 0 1 3
Suton 29 3-3 1-1 7 3 2 7
Dahlman 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Joseph 8 1-3 0-0 0 0 2 2
TEAM 5
Totals 200 18-33 26-31 31 11 20 66
3-point goals--Indiana 8-23 (Bassett 4-6, Wilmont 0-4, Ratliff 2-6, Stemler 1-4, Suhr 0-1, Shaw 1-2), MSU 4-9 (Walton 1-2, Neitzel 3-6, Joseph 0-1). Turnovers--Indiana 16, MSU 23. Fouled out--Stemler. Halftime score--Indiana 30, MSU 20. A--14,759.
