The Oregon Ducks were on an eight-game winning streak when they stepped onto the court to face the top-seeded Michigan State Spartans in the Big Ten Tournament. Quickly, that winning streak was at risk as the Sparties went up 8-0 to start the game.
However, the Ducks came storming back to take the lead a couple of times throughout the first half. Despite Oregon's hard-fought minutes, Michigan State was able to go on yet another run in the last few minutes before half, and as the two teams headed to their locker rooms, the Ducks trailed 32-42.
After halftime, it was clear that Oregon head coach Dana Altman hadn't minced his words with his team after its poor finish to the first half.
"We knew they were gonna do that," Altman said. "It’s a matter of not playing hard enough, not playing physical enough."
Before the game, legendary Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo had expressed that he expected the game to be football-esque, hinting at his game plan for the Spartans to be highly physical against the Ducks.
Under the pressure of MSU's physicality, Oregon seemed to wilt as the Ducks allowed the Spartans to have their 11-0 run before halftime. However, when the teams took the court for the second half, it looked like Altman had all of his Ducks in a row as Oregon opened the final 20 minutes with an 11-2 run of its own to bring the game within one point.
With just over 15 and a half minutes remaining, Michigan State clung to a 44-43 lead over Oregon, but the Ducks looked to be answering Altman's call to play a little more physically.
The winner of the Oregon-Michigan State game would move on to face the winner of the Wisconsin-UCLA game, which was scheduled to tip off 25 minutes after the matchup between the Ducks and the Spartans concluded.