No. 18 Michigan State extended its win streak to seven games with its 69-62 victory over Ohio State on Thursday.

The Spartans went into Columbus and were able to pull off the road win, despite blowing a 14-point lead in the second half.

It was a valiant late-game effort for Michigan State, which improved to 12-2 on the season and is 1-0 to start 2025. The Spartans are also 3-0 in conference play.

Our Aidan Champion recaps the contest on this postgame edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast.

You can watch the episode below:

Michigan State senior center Szymon Zapala led the way with 15 points. He also recorded two blocks. Spartan senior guard Jaden Akins did his part on offense as well, scoring 14 in the victory.

Redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. was arguably the MVP of the game for the Spartans as he posted 6 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

Sophomore forward Xavier Booker had a bounce-back performance after falling off in his last two outings. He finished with 9 points and two blocks.

Junior forward Jaxon Kohler nearly ended up with another double-double, scoring 8 points while collecting 10 rebounds.

Sophomore forward Coen Carr tallied 11 points. He was efficient from the charity stripe, knocking down 7-of-8 free throws.

The Spartans were tested by veteran guard Bruce Thornton, who was a huge part of the Buckeyes’ comeback late. They also had to deal with Ohio State’s leading scorer in the contest, junior guard Micah Parrish, who finished with 13 points and also excelled down the stretch.

Michigan State struggled from deep in the contest and continued to have trouble turning the ball over. But it was able to overcome those issues and secure the road win, a tough feat in the Big Ten, especially considering the setbacks.

The Spartans will look to build on their perfect start to conference play with a home matchup against Washington on Thursday. It will be the first time the two teams face off since 2010 when Michigan State narrowly defeated the Huskies, 76-71, in the Maui Invitational. That game is set for 8 p.m. EST.

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The Ohio State Buckeyes look like a buzzsaw at the moment, and Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is well aware of that fact.

Ohio State will be facing Texas in the Cotton Bowl next Friday with a trip to the National Championship Game on the line, and Sarkisian understands that the Longhorns are big underdogs.

The Buckeyes have opened as 5.5-point favorites over Texas, which actually seems like a rather slim margin considering what they just did to the previously undefeated Oregon Ducks.

But keep in mind: the Cotton Bowl will actually be played in Arlington, so the Longhorns technically have homefield advantage.

Still, it will be difficult to find anyone outside of the Lone Star State actually picking Texas in this game, and Sarkisian knows that.

“I need Longhorn Nation to show out in Arlington. We’re going to need everything we’ve got to try to win this game,” Sarkisian said, via Eleven Warriors. “Clearly, we’re massive underdogs. Nobody’s going to give us a shot. So we’re going to need all that we can to try to win this game.”

The Longhorns are one of the best teams in the country, but they don’t quite match Ohio State in terms of raw talent.

We saw the Buckeyes’ scary talent on display in the Rose Bowl, when they jumped out to a 34-0 lead against Oregon and ultimately came away with a 41-21 victory.

Meanwhile, Texas nearly lost to the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Peach Bowl, surviving in a double-overtime thriller.

Of course, stranger things have happened on the football field, so Ohio State absolutely cannot take the Longhorns lightly.

Devin Royal’s internal clock told him he was out of time.

The green-and-white-clad crowd of 14,797 was screaming as the Ohio State freshman held the ball, and likely the game, in his hands. A Tyson Walker free throw had just pulled Michigan State even against upset-minded Ohio State with 6.4 seconds remaining as Royal tried to get the Buckeyes set up for a final shot. Frantically, the freshman looked for his primary outlet to inbound the ball only to find the Spartans had taken it away.

“I’m counting in my head,” Royal said Thursday, thinking back on the moment. “I’m at five (seconds) myself, so I’m trying to hurry up and get it in.”

No whistle blew, and Royal managed to thread a pass into Bruce Thornton amid three Michigan State defenders. What happened next set off a celebration not seen in 12 years: Thornton pushed the ball up the court, found Dale Bonner along the 3-point line and fed his teammate for a game-winning shot that swished through the net with 0.2 seconds remaining.

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The shot will live on in Ohio State lore as the first road winner against the Spartans since William Buford’s jumper lifted them to a share of the 2012 Big Ten title in the final game of the regular season. It also snapped a 17-game road losing streak for the Buckeyes. But while Bonner’s name gets the headline for the play, that shot doesn’t go in – and Ohio State isn’t in position to shock the Spartans – without the first true standout game of Royal’s career.

On that Sunday afternoon, Royal finished with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and added two steals and two rebounds in the most playing time of his freshman season to that point: 17:54. It was a glimpse of why the Pickerington Central product had been such a coveted recruit, one who picked the Buckeyes despite a hard push from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.

Friday night, those two teams meet for the first time since Bonner’s shot when the Spartans come to Value City Arena in the lone matchup between Ohio State and Michigan State this year. This time, Royal features prominently atop the scouting report amid a breakout sophomore season that was hinted at last season.

He leads the Buckeyes in rebounding (7.5 per game) and is second in scoring (14.8) after averaging 2.4 and 4.7 last season, respectively. It’s the kind of growth players sometimes show from freshman to sophomore seasons, but coach Jake Diebler said that’s not exactly how Royal’s summer went.

“At times you can just assume (that growth) is going to happen, but there’s a work, there’s a mentality, there’s a maturity required to make that jump,” Diebler said. “He was a little inconsistent with that at times in the summer. We talked about it. He owned that, and then he took off because I think he was honest with himself.”

When the Buckeyes reported for fall camp, Diebler said Royal had flipped the page and quickly began to assert himself as a high-level player.

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“You’re seeing a great deal of benefit from the hard work and mentality he had really starting in August,” the coach said. “He’s a great story about what I want our program to be about. I want guys to come in and grow and get better and he’s certainly done that.”

When Ohio State returned from holiday break, Royal was hardly able to practice due to an illness that had him questionable for the Dec. 29 home game against Indiana State. He gutted out 19:44, finishing with 13 points and four rebounds in the 103-83 win against the Sycamores.

In two Big Ten games this season, Royal leads Ohio State in scoring average (20.0) and rebounding average (7.5). For the Buckeyes to knock off No. 18 Michigan State, Royal will have to play a big part.

Just like he did last year.

“It taught me a lot,” Royal said of that experience. “It’s a very physical game. Tom Izzo definitely put in them (the mentality) to be physical a lot. I know coming into this game I have to put it into some of the younger guys who might not know about it.”

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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