Unlikely heroes lead Michigan State basketball past No. 13 Purdue

With Malik Hall, Tyson Walker, and Joey Hauser in the house, Michigan State basketball felt pressure to put on a show in order to beat the No. 13 team in the country, and the Spartans did just that, winning 75-66.

The game was close for much of the first half with Purdue even holding a seven-point advantage, 21-14, after a big 3-pointer but Michigan State would storm back to go on a 16-5 run over the next few minutes to take a 30-26 lead. The Breslin Center crowd erupted thanks to back-to-back dunks from Coen Carr and Szymon Zapala, giving Michigan State a 33-31 lead heading into halftime.

If I were to tell you before the game that Jaden Akins would be held in check and Jeremy Fears Jr. would have zero points at the break, you would probably have assumed Michigan State was down big. Heck, I would’ve already added a tally to the loss column (don’t be cynical like me).

But Michigan State held a lead thanks to some unlikely heroes.

The second half was much more of the same from the unusual suspects as Zapala finished with nine points and had a nice run where he stifled Purdue defensively and then came down to pick up an and-one in a big spot. He also had four rebounds in 14 minutes.

Who else was a surprising hero for Michigan State basketball on Tuesday night? Look no further than Carson Cooper and Frankie Fidler.

Cooper continued his solid play as he seems to have turned a corner in his junior season. He finished with seven points and two rebounds and he did his best to defend Trey Kaufman-Renn, but anything the Purdue big man threw up went in, regardless of defensive effort.

The biggest surprise star of the night may have been Frankie Fidler who played a solid 16 minutes off the bench and scored nine huge points with two rebounds, an assist, and two steals, one of which led to this beauty:

The @MSU_Basketball bench loved this from Frankie Fidler ‼️‼️#B1GMBBall on Peacock 💻 pic.twitter.com/i0yAt0YdTx

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 19, 2025

Add in Jaxon Kohler who finished with nine points and four rebounds and Tre Holloman who had seven points and six assists and you had about five normal role players giving massive contributions to Michigan State’s biggest win of the year.

Let’s hope these guys carry this effort and momentum into Friday’s matchup at Michigan.