And clutch they got. 

Forward Aaron Henry pulled his mid-range jump shot out of his bag and MSU took a three point lead, giving the Spartans a 66-63 advantage with 1:08 left in the ball game. 

Then Joshua Langford, who didn’t see a number of his shots connect early on, found a jump shot for himself after a pair of OSU free throws to give the Spartans a three point lead again with 30 seconds left, and they just needed to bring it home.

“They (Henry and Langford) each hit that elbow free-throw line jump shots that were game winners,” Head Coach Tom Izzo said post game. “... I’m ecstatic. I’m not sure we’ve had many weeks when we beat a four and five ranked team in the country, so I’m just going to enjoy it for 20 more minutes.”

Michigan State held their ground as the seconds wound down, pulling out a 71-67 upset against the No. 4 Buckeyes. 

Now on a three-game win streak, this Michigan State team has proven several things. Against Indiana they pulled a late first half run to control the game. Against Illinois, the Spartans played steady and controlled, leading the Illini for the majority of the match. But against OSU, Michigan State battled back-and-forth, this time proving what they’ve struggled with all season, that they could play down the stretch.

“It was amazing," junior forward Gabe Brown said of the team's connectedness in the final three minutes. "The bench always gets us hyped up, and you got leaders like Josh, Foster on the bench going crazy, Henry yelling at guys doing his thing. It’s good when you’ve got all those guys working together. … Every guy brings something to the table, and at the end of the day it shows that we won.”

According to Izzo, the final minutes went exactly according to game plan. Izzo praised his staffs’ scouting report, noting that it helped MSU determine the best moves to make to pull this one away. 

“We did a good job of knowing what plays they (OSU) were going to run down the stretch, and Josh has watched so much film he was just talking to everybody about that,” Izzo said. “We decided to put the ball in Aaron’s hands on those ball screens. We thought we could get Joey on a blur because they’re going to put so much attention to Aaron. Sure enough he knocked down that big three, which was really big at the time and so that was the game plan.”

Henry, who's new mentality rests on him “never getting tired,” has played at a different level in recent games. 

Now averaging 15.3 points per game for the Spartans, Henry said he's finally gotten out of his head during game time decisions to let his shots go. 

“I’ve got away from over thinking like earlier in my career," Henry said. "I’m just trying to win. We know how to win. We’ve won before. Coach puts me in great positions. He puts the ball in my hands and to be here in this position is nothing shy of a blessing for the faith that he has in me and my teammates as well.”

Michigan State will travel to Maryland for a 2 p.m. tipoff on Sunday.