EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State needed a win, making Thursday night a perfect time for the return of Malik Hall.
Having lost three of the last four, the Spartans got their most important player back after Hall had missed three of those four games after aggravating the stress reaction injury in his left foot.
And it proved to be a huge boost for the Spartans, who rallied in the second half, getting late buckets from Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins before getting one final defensive stop to earn a 63-61 victory over Iowa at the Breslin Center.
Hall scored 11 in 25 minutes of action for Michigan State (14-7, 6-4 Big Ten) while Akins scored 12 and Mady Sissoko had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Joey Hauser added 11 points while Walker chipped in 10 for the Spartans.
Ahron Ulis scored a career-high 17 for Iowa (12-8, 4-5) and Filip Rebraca added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawkeyes. Kris Murray, the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten, was limited to 11 points for the Hawkeyes.
The start couldn't have been much worse for Michigan State as it missed its first nine shots, allowing Iowa to take a 10-0 lead just more than four minutes into the game.
But a Tyson Walker 3-pointer broke the ice for the Spartans, igniting a 12-4 surge that pulled them within 14-12 with 11 minutes left in the opening half.
Michigan State continued to push, but each time Iowa had an answer, getting back-to-back triples from Connor McCaffery and Payton Sandfort, extending its lead to 22-17. The Spartans chipped away again as Hall and Walker scored on jumpers before Hall brough the house down with a one-handed dunk in transition, giving Michigan State its first lead at 24-23.
The lead went back and forth over the final four minutes with Michigan State getting the final advantage on a pair of free throws from Pierre Brooks to take a 30-29 lead into halftime.
Like the first half, Iowa was the better team early in the second, quickly retaking the lead then responding to a Jaden Akins 3-pointer by scoring five in a row to take a 45-39 lead with 13:06 to play.
Michigan State responded by scoring the next six while getting a pair of 3-pointers from Hauser to take a 51-49 lead. But Iowa scored on an offensive rebound to tie the game at 51 with 9:01 left in the game.
The back-and-forth continued from there as Hoggard and Walker made back-to-back 3-pointers for the Spartans to offset a couple of buckets from Ulis and two free throws from the Hawkeyes as the score was tied at 59 with less than four minutes to play.
Walker broke the tie with a deep jumper with 1:23 to play. And after McCaffery scored on a jumper, Akins hit the go-ahead jumper with 47.1 to play. Michigan State had a chance to ice the game but Hoggard missed the front end of a one-and-one, leading to the final sequence when Iowa got off two 3-pointers and both missed.
