Michigan State survived Thursday night at home against Iowa. The Spartans saw an excellent look at a game-winner from Iowa clang off the back of the iron with just seconds remaining to escape with a 63-61 victory over the Hawkeyes.

MSU head coach Tom Izzo felt they were lucky to escape.

“We lost a couple we deserved to win,” Izzo began, per the Detroit Free Press’ Chris Solari. “Tonight, I think we might have won one I’m not sure we deserved to win. As Jud used to say, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”

The win got Michigan State to 14-7 on the season and 6-4 in the Big Ten. And it ended a slide that could have been costly in the grand scheme of things. The Spartans are 3 games back of Purdue in the loss column for first place in the Big Ten. Had Iowa been able to pull out a victory Thursday night, MSU would have been on the wrong side of the scoreboard in 4 of its last 5.

But a win is a win.

MSU shot just 39% from the field and 58% from the free throw line. But it also held the Hawkeyes to 18% shooting from 3-point range.

Two of those misses came from forward Payton Sandfort in the final 10 seconds.