Indiana basketball center Kel'el Ware missed his first five free throw attempts.

He made his sixth attempt on Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall and that proved to be the difference in a 65-64 win over Michigan State.

Indiana (17-13; 9-10 Big Ten) will have the No. 6 or No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament next week in Minneapolis after winning four straight. Michigan State (18-12; 10-9) will be the No. 8 seed.

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The Hoosiers forced a stop to take possession of the ball with the score tied, 64-64, with 33 seconds left. Kel'el Ware was fouled with 17.8 seconds after getting the ball on a pick and roll from Xavier Johnson. He split his free throws — he missed his first six attempts from the free-throw line — to give IU a one-point lead.

Michigan State guard Tyson Walker scored 20 of his game-high 30 points in the second half. He blew by IU's defense for a layup with 1:28 to go that tied the game in the final minute.

Ware was just as dominant in the second half with 18 points. He had another double-double with 28 points (13 of 19) and 12 rebounds in 38 minutes.

Indiana basketball goes 1-on-5 in the second half against the Spartans

Kel’el Ware provided nearly all the offense for Indiana through the first 11 minutes of the second half. Ware had 14 of his team’s 16 points and was credited with the assist on the only field goal he didn’t score himself.

He was unstoppable in the paint whether it was posting up a defender with his back to the basket or cleaning up the glass as he did when he slammed home an ugly missed layup from Anthony Leal that bounced hopelessly off the backboard.

Ware’s Superman-level heroics made it a close game down the stretch. Mackenzie Mgbako and Xavier Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Indiana a 56-55 lead with 7:58 to go. It remained a one-possession game the rest of the way.

Trey Galloway’s Senior Day celebration gets cut short

Galloway looked emotional as he made an unexpected trek back to the locker room area accompanied by IU’s team doctor Larry Rink after checking out with 12:54 to go in the first half.

He put on a left knee brace before tipoff that’s not normally part of his game day attire, but wasn’t listed on IU’s pregame availability injury report.

Galloway re-emerged from the tunnel wearing full white compression sleeves on both of his legs a few minutes later. He spent a few minutes on the warmup bike and there was less than four minutes to go in the half by the time he rejoined his teammates on the bench, but he didn’t check back in as MSU erased a 24-7 deficit.

It was a disappointing end for Galloway, who decided to participate in the team’s Senior Day festivities alongside Xavier Johnson, Anthony Leal and Anthony Walker.

Indiana’s co-captain elevated his play in recent weeks — he had double-digit assists in three of the team’s last six games — and provided fiery leadership on the floor and strong on the ball defense.

Indiana basketball’s fades in the first half against MSU

Michigan State closed out the first half with an 8-0 run in less than 90 seconds.

Malik Hall put an exclamation on the scoring outburst by dropping a putback off a missed 3-pointer from A.J. Hoggard with five seconds left in the half. He skied through the air to make it look like an alley-oop off the rim.

Indiana’s hot start came to a screeching halt with five turnovers in the final four minutes of the half. The Hoosiers led by as many as 17 points in the half while making six of seven shots during one early stretch and 4 of 5 to start the game from 3-point range.

They got strong contributions from their starting frontcourt with Mgbako and Malik Reneau each scoring 10 points. Ware was right there with them with nine points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Galloway’s absence was significant with Johnson struggling to replicate his steady presence. Johnson had three turnovers in the half.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana basketball closes out regular season by beating Michigan State