IOWA CITY -- For much of Thursday night, it was easy to forget Iowa men's basketball's many 2024-25 tribulations.

The Hawkeyes were ahead of a top-10 (and Big Ten-leading) foe. An engaged Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd was on its feet at one point with 12-plus minutes.

Then the unfortunate reality reemerged for Iowa (15-15, 6-13) as it blew a double-digit lead and suffered a 91-84 loss to No. 8 Michigan State (25-5, 16-3) in Thursday's home finale.

Michigan State used an 18-2 run midway through the second half to fuel the comeback, turning a 10-point deficit into a six-point lead. Tom Izzo's Spartans went on a 14-2 run as well to essentially put the game out of reach.

Iowa allowed Michigan State to shoot 61.3 percent from the field in the second half as the Spartans pulled off the comeback. Jase Richardson led the Spartans with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

Josh Dix led Iowa with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Payton and Pryce Sandfort had 15 and 12 points, respectively. Seydou Traore had 15 points while shooting an efficient 6-for-9 in the loss.

The Hawkeyes suffered their 13th loss of the Big Ten slate despite going on a 22-2 run in the first half and taking a 27-13 lead. They retained the lead for the rest of the first half and much of the second half.

Michigan State's comeback marked its first win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since 2019. Iowa had previously won five of the last six games in the series.

Fran McCaffery's group will conclude the regular season on Sunday at Nebraska. A win in Lincoln is necessary for the Hawkeyes to clinch one of the 15 spots in the Big Ten tournament.

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