And for Michigan State basketball, it brought out plenty of qualities Tom Izzo might have felt were as mythical as a Sasquatch. Coen Carr hitting 3-pointers? Carson Cooper carrying the offense? Trey Fort delivering one big shot after another?

Tuesday night's game was extremely tight for about 26 minutes, but then the 10th-ranked Spartans pulled away from Oregon with a 25-6 run to ultimately win 68-52 on the road. It's MSU's fifth consecutive victory, while it's the Ducks' fifth straight loss.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had an interesting approach in urging one of his players to play better defense.

Michigan State's men's basketball team has re-entered the top 10 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 rankings. The Spartans moved up two spots to No. 10 after wins against Indiana and Washington. Michigan State's overall record improved to 16-2, with a 6-1 record in Big Ten play.

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In the first year of the Big Ten’s expansion to 18 teams, Michigan State took a 13-game winning streak on the road for its first conference West Coast trip. The Spartans came home riding a skid after single-digit defeats at USC and UCLA last season but that didn’t prevent them from going on to win the conference by three games.