Michigan State earned a marquee road victory Thursday night, beating Purdue at Mackey Arena for the first time since 2014 and securing its first top-10 road win since January 2022. The Spartans entered with just one true road win against a NET Top 100 opponent (Washington).

Seven players scored at least eight points, with Carson Cooper leading the way with 15 and Kur Teng adding 13 off the bench.

The win strengthens Michigan State’s postseason résumé. The Spartans were ranked 14th overall — a No. 4 seed — in the NCAA selection committee’s Top 16 reveal, while Purdue was eighth overall, slotted as a No. 2 seed. With the victory, Michigan State (53-12 over the past two seasons) is positioned to move up to the No. 3 seed line.

After the game, Tom Izzo said this Michigan State team may not be as talented as some of his past squads, but it is together and connected — and for that, he considers himself the luckiest guy in America. Never change, Tom Izzo.

On Wednesday night, UConn routed St. John’s 72-40, holding Rick Pitino’s team without a field goal for the final 17-plus minutes as the Red Storm missed their last 24 shots.

Afterward, coach Dan Hurley made headlines while discussing a possible third meeting in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

“Obviously, we expect to see them potentially a third time,” Hurley said. “But I do want to move that Big East Tournament somewhere else because I do think St. John’s has too big of an advantage playing the Big East Tournament at MSG, now that their fan base is, like, woke up and packs that place.”

St. John’s fans created a dominant atmosphere at MSG during the Red Storm’s 81-72 win over UConn on Feb. 7 as well as when they won the entire Big East tournament last season.

“When we play St. John’s now in the Big East road game, that’s not Storrs South no more,” Hurley said. “That environment that we played in was a serious, serious, nasty environment, an intense environment — we were at a major disadvantage.”

While the Big East Tournament is not a true home game for St. John’s, a third matchup would likely feature a heavily pro-Red Storm crowd just like last year.

LOTS of good basketball this weekend.

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