Michigan State basketball pounds Iowa to open Big Ten title...

EAST LANSING – Michigan State opened its Big Ten title defense successfully. The No. 7 Spartans (8-0, 1-0) clamped down defensively and dominated the glass in a 71-52 win against Iowa (7-1, 0-1) on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center. Michigan State, which won the conference by three games last season, slogged through a foul-plagued first half with a double-digit lead and pulled away after the break to extend its longest unbeaten start to a season in a decade. Coen Carr had a game-high 15 points to lead the Spartans, Jeremy Fears posted 14 points and six assists while Jaxon Kohler recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. True freshman forward Cam Ward, who is fifth on the team in scoring sat out while nursing a wrist injury suffered in a win against North Carolina last week and is considered day-to-day. Iowa leading scorer Bennett Stirtz finished with 14 points but was kept in check most of the night by the Spartans and held below his season scoring average. He was the only Hawkeye who scored in double digits. In addition to shooting 50 percent from the floor, Michigan State dominated Iowa in rebounds (37-18), second-chance points (21-4) and points in the paint (34-18). Michigan State entered Tuesday’s game coming off its third ranked win of the season by beating North Carolina in the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Thanksgiving. The Breslin Center crowd was fired up before the start after new football coach Pat Fitzgerald took his courtside side. It was a fitting Big Ten battle early for the former linebacker’s first game in the arena with defense and toughness standing out from the start. Iowa went more than six minutes without a point but Michigan State struggled from the field too while relying on getting to the line. In a first half that featured more fouls than made field goals, Michigan State put together an 11-0 run and knocked down nine of 12 shots during one stretch before taking a 35-21 lead into the locker room. Fears scored eight of 10 in the first half from the line while Kohler had eight points and eight rebounds. Brendan Hausen led Iowa with seven points while Stirtz struggled with four points on 1-for-5 shooting from the floor and four turnovers while playing all 20 minutes. Michigan State began the second half on an 8-2 run capped by a Carson Cooper dunk that pushed the lead to 20 points. The Hawkeyes never threatened and the Spartans cruised to the win while emptying the bench. Michigan State will cap a big week with another huge nonconference game at home. No. 4 Duke visits the Breslin Center on Saturday (noon, FOX) and the Spartans hope Ward will be available to return.