DES MOINES, Iowa — No. 2 seed Michigan State had a scare from Bradley but pulled away late to win 76-65 and advance to meet Minnesota in an All-Big Ten second-round game.
Big Ten Player of the Year Cassius Winston scored 26 points to lead the Spartans, who haven't made it past the first weekend of the tournament since 2015.
The Missouri Valley Conference's Braves gave Michigan State all it could handle through the first 30 minutes. Bradley led 35-34 at the half and was still up by one point with 7 minutes to go. Then a 9-0 spurt put the Spartans ahead 63-55 with 2½ minutes to play.
The Spartans made 25 of 26 free throws.
Elijah Childs scored 19 points to lead the Braves, who were just 3 of 12 on 3-pointers in the second half after starting 6 for 9.
The Minnesota-Michigan State matchup in the second round will be the earliest two Big Ten teams have ever met in the NCAA Tournament. It's the eighth all-time in any round.
The only time two Big Ten teams have played before the regional finals was in 1980, when Purdue beat Indiana in the Sweet 16. There hasn't been an all-Big Ten matchup in any round since Michigan State beat Wisconsin in the Final Four in 2000. That came a few days after Wisconsin's win over Purdue in the regional finals.
The other NCAA Tournament games involving Big Ten games were Michigan's win over Ohio State in the 1992 regional finals, Michigan's win over Illinois in the 1989 Final Four, Purdue's win over Iowa in the 1980 third-place game and Indiana's win over Michigan in the 1976 national championship game.
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