Thursday, March 28, 2024

Ballinger leads seniors to victory

March 5, 2003

He had saved his best game for last, was mobbed by his teammates for the second time this season and kissed the green and white "S" at midcourt for good measure.

On a senior night that saw four MSU seniors bid the regular-season hardwood at Breslin Center goodbye, senior forward Adam Ballinger shrugged off the criticism of a lackluster season and led the Spartans to a masterful 82-54 win over Iowa on Wednesday.

Ballinger, who set career highs in points (22) and field goals (9, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range), set the tone for MSU's (17-11 overall, 8-6 Big Ten) game-winning 16-0 run to open the game.

Ballinger and the Spartans never looked back.

"The guys did a good job of getting me going," Ballinger said after the game, "Things just flowed. It felt good tonight, like last year."

Ballinger was averaging just 5.3 points and shooting a relatively icy 35 percent from beyond the arc heading into the game with Iowa.

The win over the Hawkeyes (14-12, 6-9) keeps MSU's hopes alive for an NCAA tournament berth and a higher seeding in next week's Big Ten tournament.

Ballinger - who had 10 points himself before Iowa had collected 4 - said that the way MSU played Wednesday was proof of what is still left in the Spartans' tank.

"We've got some season left though," Ballinger said. "Hopefully a lot of season if we can play the way we played tonight."

Head coach Tom Izzo

Discussion

Share and discuss “Ballinger leads seniors to victory” on social media.