No. 1 Michigan State falls to Iowa 83-70

Dec. 29, 2015

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Mike Gesell scored a career-high 25 points and Iowa cruised past top-ranked Michigan State 83-70 on Tuesday night, handing the Spartans their first loss of the season.

Eron Harris scored 21 points to lead the Spartans. They were playing their second game without injured star Denzel Valentine - their leader in scoring, rebounds and assists.

Peter Jok had 19 points for the Hawkeyes (10-3), which toppled a No. 1 team for the first time in 16 years.

Iowa never trailed in what turned out to be a surprisingly easy win over the Spartans (13-1). The Hawkeyes led by as much as 19 in snapping a nine-game losing streak against Michigan State.

''It was one of the rare times in my career I thought we got, for (lack) of a better choice of words, punked,'' Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. ''We got out-hustled.''

But Izzo refused to use Valentine's absence as an excuse, pointing instead to what he called a ''disappointing effort.''

''Zero,'' Izzo said about how much Valentine not playing hurt the Spartans. ''That had something to do with not making baskets. But it had nothing to do with the effort you give.''

Still, the Spartans looked so underwhelming in beating Oakland 99-93 last week without Valentine - who is out likely through next week after arthroscopic surgery on his left knee- that the unranked Hawkeyes were actually a slight favorite.

''We really sustained effort and paid attention to the details,'' Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. ''I think we disrupted their offense quite a bit.''

Matt Costello had 17 points for Michigan State.

''We struggled a lot defensively,'' Costello said. ''They just got bucket after bucket, and we couldn't stop them.''

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Players Mentioned

Matt Costello

Eron Harris

Denzel Valentine