EAST LANSING — It may not be March, but there was madness in the air Friday, Nov. 6, as Valparaiso downed Purdue in double overtime at Mackey Arena. And the player who scored the game-winning shot is one quite familiar to Michigan State's point guard.

With all of 0.1 seconds on the clock, Valparaiso guard Justus McNair pulled up for a buzzer-beating 3 that sunk Purdue, 83-80, in double overtime. The Joliet, Ill., native played high school ball at Joliet West with Michigan State point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who gave his old teammate some love on social media after Friday's feat.

Fears tagged the video of McNair's big shot on his Instagram story, captioning it with peeking eye emojis.

Fears and McNair played together at Joliet West during Fears' senior year, when he returned to his hometown school after a two-year stint at La Lumiere to play one season with his younger brother, Jeremiah, who is now in his second year with the New Orleans Pelicans who picked him seventh overall out of Oklahoma in 2025. During that senior season, Fears averaged 18.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while McNair added some depth averaging 11.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists.

Joliet is also the hometown of Valparaiso coach Roger Powell Jr., who played at what is now called Joliet Central — where in 2004 Jeremy Fears Sr. was nominated for the McDonald’s All-American Team. During that time, Powell was amid his playing career at Illinois from 2001 to 2005, where he was a two-time All-Big Ten honorable mention in his final two seasons.

In 2004, Powell helped Illinois clinch the first of back-to-back Big Ten titles as a junior and senior with a win at Mackey Arena. His old coach, Bruce Weber, was on the Big Ten Network broadcast for Friday's win over Purdue and interviewed his former player who just notched the biggest win in his four years as a head coach.

"Proud of me?" Powell asked with a smile in his postgame interview.

"I am proud of you," Weber replied.

McNair is no stranger to coming up clutch. He hit a halfcourt buzzer beater against Western Michigan on Dec. 20, 2024, which was the No. 1 play on SportsCenter's Top 10 that evening.

"Justus McNair, he's made big shots like that," Powell said. "I literally prayed for him to be born a long time ago, so hey, god bless we won. That is probably our biggest win in the program in a long time."

It was the second buzzer beater his team hit that game, with another from Rakim Chaney tying the game to force that second overtime to begin with.

Mackey had been Michigan State's own house of horrors for 12 years before this past February, when Fears pitched in 12 points and six assists to a 76-74 win there on Feb. 27. That Purdue loss is one of five in the past seven that the Boilermakers have lost at home, including a Jan. 24 loss to Illinois and a Feb. 17 loss to Michigan.

No. 6 Michigan State started the season 2-0 with wins over Quinnipiac and Toledo. It takes on No. 2 Duke in the Champions Classic Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Chicago's United Center.