Mi State Vs Purdue: Michigan State survives 76-74 win at Mackey Arena

In a tight road game that mattered for Big Ten positioning, mi state vs purdue ended with Michigan State holding off Purdue 76-74 in West Lafayette. The Spartans’ victory snapped a seven-game losing streak at Mackey Arena and left both teams with updated records and a string of postseason implications.

Mi State Vs Purdue at Mackey Arena: final score, location and attendance

Michigan State beat Purdue 76-74 in West Lafayette, Ind., playing at Mackey Arena, which lists a capacity of 14, 876. The Spartans’ win was a one-possession finish after Braden Smith missed a 3-point attempt with one second remaining.

Spartans’ contributors: Carson Cooper, Kur Teng, Jeremy Fears Jr. and Coen Carr

Carson Cooper led Michigan State with 15 points, Kur Teng added 13, Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 12 and Coen Carr finished with 11 for the Spartans. Those scoring lines were central to Michigan State improving its record in the aftermath of the game.

Purdue’s lines and Braden Smith’s milestone and late attempts

Braden Smith finished with 12 points and 10 assists and became the fifth player in Division I history to reach 1, 000 career assists. Jack Benter scored 11 for Purdue. Smith’s late free throws had trimmed the deficit to 66-64 with 5: 48 left, and he later hit a 3-pointer and a driving layup to cut Michigan State’s lead to 74-72 with 2: 16 to play.

Decisive sequence in final minutes and team shooting/turnover numbers

After Smith’s free throws made it 66-64, Michigan State answered with a 6-0 run. With Purdue trailing 76-74, Trey Kaufman-Renn missed a jumper in the lane with eight seconds left. Michigan State’s Cam Ward then missed the front end of a one-and-one; Purdue secured the rebound and called timeout with 3. 4 seconds to set up the final shot, which did not fall. Michigan State shot 53% for the game while Purdue hit 49%. Purdue committed nine turnovers, three more than Michigan State.

First-half swings, Oscar Cluff and three-point differences

Purdue led 39-36 at halftime. Michigan State shot 48% in the first half in a period that included seven lead changes. Oscar Cluff scored all 10 of his points in the first half and put Purdue ahead 36-34 with 2: 55 left in the opening period. Purdue sank 6 of 11 three-pointers in the first half while Michigan State was 3 of 9. Purdue’s largest first-half lead was 13-6 before the Spartans used a 10-0 run to take a 16-13 edge with 12: 28 remaining in the first half.

Purdue’s pregame profile, metrics, series history and schedule notes

Before the matchup, the two teams were listed as Purdue 22-5, 12-4 in Big Ten play and Michigan State 22-5, 12-4 in Big Ten play for the gameday materials. Purdue’s published season metrics included an overall 22-5 record, a 12-3 mark at home, 7-2 away and 3-0 at neutral sites; quarter-by-quarter records of Q1: 8-5, Q2: 4-0, Q3: 7-0 and Q4: 3-0; an NCAA NET of 6 and a KenPom rank of 7; offensive efficiency ranked 2nd and defensive efficiency 23rd; NCAA SOS 7 and KenPom SOS 8. The Boilermakers came into the game closing out a three-game homestand and the month of February and were coming off a 93-64 win over Indiana. Following the Michigan State game, Purdue’s next scheduled road dates were at Ohio State on March 1 and at Northwestern on March 4.

Series history noted this was the 135th meeting between the programs, with Purdue listed as holding a 77-57 advantage overall. Purdue had won nine of the last 11 meetings dating to Jan. 27, 2019, and had won seven straight home games against Michigan State at Mackey Arena by a combined 89 points; only two of those games had been decided by single digits in 2024 and 2016. One of the teams had been nationally ranked in 31 of the last 33 meetings, with Purdue and Michigan State each cited 21 times in that span. Purdue was listed as 5-2 at Mackey Arena against Michigan State when both teams were nationally ranked.

Gameday media information listed the television window as NBCSN and Peacock with broadcasters Brandon Gaudin and Robbie Hummel, and radio coverage as the Purdue Global Radio Network with Rob Blackman and Bobby Riddell. Team notes before the game also highlighted that Fletcher Loyer — whose brother Foster played at Michigan State from 2019-21 — was 10-of-16 (. 625) for his career from three-point range against Michigan State.

Additional season notes published before the game flagged that a win would have given Purdue a 6-1 February, matching one of the program’s stronger months in recent years; one efficiency model placed Purdue fourth-best overall in February behind Michigan, Florida and Illinois, ranking Purdue second offensively and 19th defensively. Purdue was listed among eight teams with at least eight quad-1 victories (Duke 12; Arizona 11; Michigan 10; Purdue 8; Florida 8; Kansas 8; Illinois 8; Vanderbilt 8), and 19-5 in the first three quads — the fifth-most such wins nationally (Michigan 24; Arizona 20; Gonzaga 20; UConn 20). Of Purdue’s remaining four games at that time, three were quad-1 contests (Michigan State, Ohio State, Northwestern) and the other — Wisconsin — was listed as right on the cusp of being quad-1 at 32. The program’s strength of schedule had been ranked 8th for 2025-26, 8th for 2024-25 and 2nd for 2023-24. Purdue was also noted among top-25 national rankings in assist/turnover ratio (1st), offensive efficiency (2nd), assists per game (3rd), turnovers per game (10th), field goal percentage (15th), scoring margin (18th), 3-point percentage (20th), rebound margin (21st) and defensive efficiency (23rd). Purdue was also described as one of 11 teams to rank in the top 2

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