Garza reaches 2,000 points as Iowa tops Michigan State 84-78

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Luka Garza scored 27 points to reach another milestone and No. 8 Iowa beat Michigan State 84-78 on Tuesday night.

Garza, who came into the game as the nation’s leading scorer at 26.4 points per game, became the second 2,000-point scorer in program history. Garza, who has 2,009 points, is 107 points behind all-time leading scorer Roy Marble.

The Hawkeyes (13-4, 7-3 Big Ten) led 79-70 before the Spartans (8-7, 2-7) went on an 8-1 run. Michigan State had a chance to tie the game after forcing a shot-clock violation, but Joshua Langford missed a jumper with 24 seconds left.

Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon closed the game with four consecutive free throws.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Spartans. Iowa snapped a five-game losing streak to Michigan State, which came in having won 19 of the last 22 in the series.

The Spartans, who were just 5 of 24 in 3-point shooting in Sunday’s 79-62 loss to Ohio State, opened up an early 26-15 lead by making their first six 3-pointers. But the Hawkeyes rallied for a 48-43 halftime lead behind Garza, who had 15 first-half points, and Jack Nunge, who had 11.

Nunge finished with 12 points. Joe Toussaint had 10. The Hawkeyes had 39 bench points.

Aaron Henry led Michigan State with 24 points. Langford had 15 points. Joey Hauser had 10.

FREDRICK RETURNS

Iowa guard CJ Fredrick, who missed Friday’s game at Illinois because of a lower leg injury, started and played 12 minutes, scoring two points. Fredrick has started all 16 games he has played in this season.

BUSY SCHEDULES

Michigan State, which went 20 days without a game because of COVID-19 issues within the program, was playing its third game in six days, all on the road. This was the first game in a three-game, six-day stretch for Iowa.

BIG PICTURE

Iowa broke a two-game losing streak heading into Thursday’s game against Ohio State. It’s the first four-game losing streak for the Spartans since the 2006-07 season, and their first 2-7 start in Big Ten play since 1969-70.

UP NEXT

Iowa: At home against No. 7 Ohio State on Thursday.

Michigan State: At home against Nebraska on Saturday.