East Lansing – Michigan State needed a win, making Thursday night a perfect time for the return of Malik Hall.
Having lost three of the last four, the Spartans got their most important player back after Hall had missed three of those four games after aggravating the stress reaction injury in his left foot.
And it proved to be a huge boost for the Spartans, who rallied in the second half, getting late buckets from Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins before getting one final defensive stop to earn a 63-61 victory over Iowa at the Breslin Center.