Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball’s 76-74 win at Purdue

1. MSU earned that win at Purdue, a consequential victory

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Michigan State has a new best win of the season. And renewed hope it has the goods to do something difficult this season.

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MSU’s hard-earned 76-74 win over Purdue was the Spartans’ best performance in some time and first really quality true road performance of the season, winning at a place they haven’t since Branden Dawson was terrorizing Mackey Arena. Coen Carr had a couple dunks Thursday that probably brought back those bad memories for Purdue fans.

It’s not like they caught the Boilermakers on an off night. Purdue hit 12 of 25 3s and out-rebounded MSU. But the Spartans played the sort of game that’ll make them a tough out in March. They turned the ball over only six times, they got enough shooting and strong showings and moments from all sorts of players — from Kur Teng, who made 3 of 6 on 3-pointers, to Carson Cooper, who was the best post scorer on the floor, to their two freshman, Jordan Scott and Cam Ward, and so on. Jeremy Fears ran the show in the most difficult environment to do so, with 12 points, six assists and one turnover in 36 minutes. Jaxon Kohler, who had two of the more difficult matchups of his season, hung in there with a fancy-footwork bucket late for MSU’s final points. The Spartans hung on for the final two minutes from there, with Braden Smith’s 25-foot 3 pointer before the buzzer off the mark.

MSU answered some questions Thursday. Not all of them. Purdue is a notch below the best teams in the sport this season. But not that far. And the venue, worth 8 to 10 points, made it all the more impressive.

MSU (23-5 overall, 13-4 in the Big Ten) now has a decent chance at a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament and a double-bye in the Big Ten tournament. This was a consequential win and a promising showing.

Michigan State Spartans center Carson Cooper (15) dribbles around Purdue Boilermakers forward Trey Kaufman-Renn (4) during the first half at Mackey Arena in…

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Publish date : 2026-02-27 03:18:00

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