Texas Southern Tigers upset Michigan State for 1st win over AP Top 25 team since '94

EAST LANSING, Michigan  --  It's been almost twenty years to the day the last time Texas Southern defeated a ranked opponent. On Saturday the Tigers captured the biggest win in the Mike Davis era versus one of the top programs in the nation.

History once again repeated itself in the month of December as the Texas Southern Tigers won a thrilling 71-64 contest over Big Ten member Michigan State on the road.

The game went into overtime tied at 55. TSU's Chris Thomas scored 22 points, and Texas Southern never trailed in the extra session. The Tigers had not beaten an AP Top 25 team since a win over 16th-ranked Minnesota on Dec. 21, 1994.

"We did know it was possible as long as we stayed as a team," Thomas said. "We've played good teams before. We knew we were getting better."



Michigan State needed a free throw with 6.8 seconds left in regulation just to force overtime.

The Spartans came in leading the nation at 44 percent from 3-point range, but they went 4-of-21 against Texas Southern.

In the final seconds of overtime, the Tigers converted key free throws to finish off the game.

The Spartans led 30-25 at halftime, and after the Tigers tied it early in the second, Michigan State seemed to begin to get in a groove. But after a 3-pointer gave the Spartans a 50-42 lead, Texas Southern went on an 11-2 run and took a 53-52 advantage on Jason Carter's 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining.

The Tigers were up one when MSU came up with an offensive rebound and the Spartans drew a foul in the final seconds of regulation. Michigan State got one of two free throws to tie it at 55.

Texas Southern regrouped and scored the first four points of overtime, and the Tigers defense got the needed stops to win the contest. The Spartans didn't make a field goal in overtime until the final minute.

TSU turned the ball over only 11 times and shot a season-best 53 percent from the field.

"It means a lot, but we're not done yet," Thomas said. "We've got to win a lot more games to get to the tournament. It doesn't stop here."

Malcolm Riley scored 20 points for Texas Southern in what will go down as one of the biggest wins in the history of the TSU Tigers basketball program.

COURTESY TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION