Columbus, Ohio - Senior forward Adam Ballinger is certainly picking a convenient time to heat up.
After drudging through a season laden with shooting slumps and abandoned expectations, he has come alive for MSU the past two contests.
Ballinger's career-high 22 points against Iowa on Wednesday punctuated his Spartan career on Senior Night, and his 11 points Saturday against Ohio State all but buried the Buckeyes in the game's final moments.
"You have one good game and then another," he said. "And it can get contagious."
Despite being held scoreless for most of the game, Ballinger's baseline jumper with 6:26 remaining in Saturday's contest triggered his offensive outburst, and kept the Spartans (18-11 overall, 10-6 Big Ten) ahead by no fewer than seven points the rest of the way.
On the next possession, sophomore guard Chris Hill threw a crisp pass to a streaking Ballinger on the left wing. A reverse lay-in and two points later, Ballinger was in the midst of another hot streak.
A signature Ballinger 3-pointer with 1:31 left sealed the game for MSU, and reaffirmed his belief that hot shooting from a variety of players - including himself - is a good reason for MSU's four-game winning streak to end the regular season.
"We're really starting to come together," he said. "We've got scoring coming from a lot of guys."
Ballinger's 16.5 points per game the last two contests are a far cry from his 5.3 average heading into the game with Iowa, and it was the first time since November that he has had consecutive double-digit games.
His 29 minutes against Ohio State - mostly due to senior forward Aloysius Anagonye and freshman center Paul Davis' foul troubles - was his most since playing 33 against Villanova in November.
Ballinger's horrific shooting slump, which head coach Tom Izzo called one of the worst he had ever seen, derailed his chances to improve on last season's All-Big Ten Third Team honors.
Last year, Ballinger averaged 11.2 points per game and tied for the Big Ten lead in 3-point shooting.
Izzo, who has made a habit of announcing his faith in his co-captain throughout the season, called Ballinger's late-game performance Saturday nothing short of "amazing."
"Early I thought he had some great looks again and then missed them," Izzo said. "But he got open, he made the free throws, he made the layup, he made the big three.
"I think he had a stretch where he had like seven points in a row, and that's what someone's got to do - step up and win the game."
Izzo's kind words fulfilled his premonition following the Iowa game that Ballinger still had some fight left in him for a late-season push.
Ballinger's teammates are riding high on his new-found offensive contributions as well. Hill, who earned one of his game-high four assists on Ballinger's layup, had one word to describe what Ballinger's overall success meant to the team.
"Huge," Hill said. "The last games especially. We knew from the beginning he had big expectations all year. We know if we can get him playing his form, we can still get some wins out of it."
