The Spartans (9-1) had difficulty extending a lead in the first half though it looked as if they were set to take control of the game midway through the half. After IPFW (4-5) jumped out to a 5-2 lead, MSU went on a 16-0 run to take an 18-5 lead.

At one point, Neitzel had eight straight MSU points, connecting on two free throws and two three-point attempts.

“The game plan was to get Drew some shots,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “He’s been shooting it better and better. In the second half, I thought he had a couple more that he didn’t take. That’s the only thing that bothered me. Most people would be bothered by too many shots. I’m bothered by too few.”

With eight minutes remaining, he took to sharing the ball – finding Gray with a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass while Gray was coming down the lane. Gray was fouled and made one of the free throws, extending the MSU lead to 14.

After a scoring drought of more than five minutes, IPFW went on a 12-4 run to finish the half, narrowing the lead to eleven at the break. The Spartans capitalized on 22 IPFW turnovers, scoring 33 points off giveaways. The rebound margin finished 37-26 in favor of the Spartans.

“The law of averages came true tonight,” IPFW head coach Dane Fife said. “They’ve got an 11-12 average rebounding margin in their favor and tonight they got us by 11. You look at why teams beat us and these stat sheets don’t lie. MSU is an unbelievable basketball team and I don’t want to disrespect any of Coach Izzo’s teams, but, in my opinion, this is the best team he’s had since the Mateen Cleaves and ‘Mo Pete’ years.”

IPFW’s Ben Botts started the second half with a lay-up and two-point jumper, narrowing the MSU lead to seven. The Mastadons narrowed the score to 41-37, scoring eight points while MSU committed three fouls before the Spartans connected on their first field goal of the half.

At the 14:46 mark, Gray drove the ball from the top of the key to the basket for a lay-up, widening the MSU lead to 43-37.

Gray’s basket sparked an 8-0 MSU scoring run that featured baskets from three different players. Then, with 8:43 remaining in the contest, it was Gray again who put some emphasis on a Spartans scoring spree with one of his signature emphatic slam dunks, upping MSU’s lead to 16 points.

“I was just playing ball,” Gray said. “I was trying to keep my team in it and trying to bring energy. For the first time all year the Izzone wasn’t there, so that had an effect on us. We just have to bring our own energy.”