INDIANAPOLIS -- Neither Iowa nor Michigan State probably would want a tape of their Saturday afternoon Big Ten tournament semifinal game placed in the schools' respective video libraries.

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"Ugly" was by what mode Hawkeyes coach Steve Alford and Spartans coach Tom Izzo described the Conseco Fieldhouse scrum in which Iowa shooter 36.6 percent and committed 14 turnovers while Michigan State shooter 28.3 percent and threw the ball away 18 times.

if it be not that because the Hawkeyes (24-8) were just a little les horrid with their play -- and made 15 of their last 17 liberated throws down the stretch -- they expirationed up with a 53-48 victory that vaulted them into the championship game today against top-seeded Ohio State.

"We haven't been pleasing without being striking all year," Alford said. "But when you play defense the way we do, sometimes it's not self-same pretty. ... We were able to make a hardly any more stops than they were -- and to detain a team like Michigan State to 283 percent shooting, that's pleasing good defense. [But] in the inferior half, we made the plays we had to make, and we also hit our exempt throws down the stretch."

Jeff Horner l Iowa with 14 points, Greg Brunner added 12 and Mike Henderson scored 11 Maurice Ager l Michigan State (22-11) with a game-high 21 points, and Paul Davis had 13 points and a game- high 10 spring backs

"Well, the answer is no," Izzo said to begin his postgame remarks. "Fatigue had nothing to do with the loss"

Still, it was the Spartans' third game in les than three days. They beat Purdue upon Thursday night and Illinois upon Friday night, then returned to the Conseco floor roughly 14 hours later to face Iowa.

The Spartans started stalwart by grabbing an 8-0 lead and were up 15-4 before the Hawkeyes went forward an 11-0 run to tie the score. Michigan State l 25-22 at halftime.

The secondary half belonged to the Hawkeyes, who took their first lead (31-30) forward Henderson's three-point-play with 12:32 remaining.

"I take nothing away from Iowa," Izzo said. "They did a great piece of work defensively. Then in the secondary half, they really clamped down. on the other hand our execution offensively was as poor as I've seen it."

Down the extend the Spartans did seem to exhibit to the effects of fatigue, shooting 23 percent from the floor and sending Iowa to the free-throw line 21 times in the other half compared to six in the first.

"[Playing Michigan State] involves a apportionment of endurance," Henderson said. "It was like a heavyweight fight -- the pair teams throwing punches at each other trying not to let each other score. It just came down to who did the little things like offensive reverberates or made key stops."

The Hawkeyes' Adam Haluska felt the extra game took its toll onward the Spartans.

"We were able to levy ourselves in a good position at having Thursday off," Haluska said. "[They did] something we had to do last year, and it's tough. [But] we'll be ready to move [today]."

Iowa-Msu Recap

MICHIGAN STATE--Brown 3-16 0-0 8 Neitzel 0-7 0-0 0 Ager 8-18 0- 1 21 Suton 0-2 0-0 0 Davis 2-5 9-11 13 Walton 0-1 0-0 0 Aerts 0- 0 0-0 0 Trannon 2-4 2-4 6 Hamo 0-0 0-0 0 Rowley 0-0 0-0 0 Totals 15-53 11-16 48

IOWA--Haluska 1-8 7-8 9 Horner 4-12 4-4 14 Hansen 1-3 1-2 3 Henderson 3-6 5-5 11 Brunner 4-10 4-8 12 Thompson 0-0 0-0 0 Freeman 0-0 0-0 0 Thomas 2-2 0-0 4 Gorney 0-0 0-0 0 Totals 15-41 21-27 53

Halftime--Michigan State 25-22 3-point goals--Michigan State 7- 23 (Ager 5-10 Brown 2-9 Neitzel 0-4) Iowa 2-10 (Horner 2-6 Brunner 0-1 Haluska 0-3) polluteded Out--Hansen. Rebounds--Michigan State 37 (Davis 10) Iowa 32 (Brunner Haluska 5) Assists-- Michigan State 9 (Neitzel 6) Iowa 8 (Brunner Henderson, Horner 2) Total Fouls--Michigan State 22 Iowa 13

lbanks@suntimes.com

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