Williams leads Purdue over No. 23 Michigan St.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Trevion Williams made a short jumper with 4.5 seconds left and scored 22 of his 26 points after halftime, rallying Purdue past No. 23 Michigan State 55-54 on Friday night after trailing by 17.
Aaron Henry, who scored 13 points, missed a runner from the left side of the lane just before the buzzer to seal the collapse for the Spartans.
Williams made 9 of 14 shots and 8 of 12 free throws to spur the Boilermakers (8-5, 3-3 Big Ten).
The Spartans (8-4, 2-4) missed 11 of their last 13 shots and connected on just 39% of their shots overall.
And, they simply couldn’t stop Williams in the second half.
The 6-foot-10, 265-pound forward did not connect on his last attempt at the line with a chance to pull Purdue into a 54-all tie with 9.8 seconds left, and later said it was a fortunate miss.
The Spartans and Boilermakers both got to the loose ball after the missed free throw, and the visitors had the alternate possession arrow pointing in their direction. Williams caught a lob pass on an inbounds play and took full advantage with a short, floating, goahead jumper.
Early in the game, the Boilermakers looked rusty playing for the first time in nearly a week. Their game on Tuesday against Nebraska was postponed.
Big picture
Purdue: The comeback in the second half can help the team gain confidence in the future, knowing it can rally from a big deficit against a ranked team on the road – and win.
Michigan State: The offensive woes include turning the ball over and shooting the ball poorly, a combination that is holding the team back.
Poll implications
The Spartans should stay in the poll when the next AP Top 25 is released on Monday, mostly because they beat No. 15 Rutgers by 23 points earlier in the week.