During spell combat, one hand must remain free. However, if he isn't using spell combat, he's free to cast a spell with a range of touch, then grip his weapon with two hands and use the free attack granted by the spell to attack with the weapon.
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Spell Combat; At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand.
It depends what he wants to do.
Let's take a level 2 magus for example (that way he has spellstrike and spell combat).
If he wants to use spell combat, he can't put his hand back on his main weapon.
If he only wants to use spell-strike he can use his weapon 2 handed for 1.5 STR damage.
Spell Combat & Spellstrike: Cast shocking grasp and deliver it using your weapon (when you cast a touch spell you can deliver it as a free action any time during the round you cast it), then make a melee attack. This nets you 2 weapon attacks and your shocking grasp damage, but you can't use your weapon 2-handed so you only get normal STR damage.
Spellstrike alone: Cast shocking grasp (standard action), move to your enemy (move action), put both hands on your weapon (free action), deliver spell through your weapon using shocking grasp (free action during the round you cast it). This nets you weapon 1 attack with 1.5 STR bonus as well as shocking grasp damage.
If he's asking if he can get 1.5 STR damage as part of spell combat the answer is NO.
I did that with a bastard sword. On a charge or if I didn't want to use a spell I would two hand it.
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It depends what he wants to do.
Let's take a level 2 magus for example (that way he has spellstrike and spell combat).
If he wants to use spell combat, he can't put his hand back on his main weapon.
If he only wants to use spell-strike he can use his weapon 2 handed for 1.5 STR damage.
Spell Combat & Spellstrike: Cast shocking grasp and deliver it using your weapon (when you cast a touch spell you can deliver it as a free action any time during the round you cast it), then make a melee attack. This nets you 2 weapon attacks and your shocking grasp damage, but you can't use your weapon 2-handed so you only get normal STR damage.
Spellstrike alone: Cast shocking grasp (standard action), move to your enemy (move action), put both hands on your weapon (free action), deliver spell through your weapon using shocking grasp (free action during the round you cast it). This nets you weapon 1 attack with 1.5 STR bonus as well as shocking grasp damage.
If he's asking if he can get 1.5 STR damage as part of spell combat the answer is NO.
He can't use Spellcombat and use the weapon two handed.
Pathfidner has the concept of "hands of effort". Spellcombat requires one hand of effort, and wielding a one handed weapon also requires one hand. Wielding a two handed weapon requires two hands of effort. Since Spellcombat is a full round action that takes up one hand for the full round, he can't use his weapon two-handed on that round. However, rounds in which he doesn't use spell combat to cast he can use his weapon two handed.
So, as a for instance he could move, cast a spell as a standard action, then use Spellstrike (which is what lets him deliver spells through his weapon) with his longsword and attack two handed (by taking a couple free actions to shift his grip around to cast and then move to two-handed).
The short answer is no, no two-handing during Spellcombat.
Two handed magi are playable. Just carry a backup weapon for when you want to use spell combat a lot.
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IF you only needed a hand free to cast the spell then the player would be right. However, that isn't how it works. You need the free hand for the ENTIRE Spell Combat ability... not just the 'cast spell' part of it. No free hand means no 'cast spell AND full attack'.
So the character would wind up with a standard action to cast a spell OR a full-round action to do a full attack (two handed)... but not both on the same turn.
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The only way to wield a weapon two-handed during a round in which you use Spell Combat is to play a Mindblade Magus of at least 13th level and use a weapon manifested through your Psychic Pool.
The fact that they get a high-level class ability that lets them do this should make it clear that your player's strategy doesn't work. If it did then that class ability wouldn't be necessary.
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Lol now there are 2 copies of my post in this thread =P
Two handed magi are playable. Just carry a backup weapon for when you want to use spell combat a lot.
Or use a Bastard Sword with the Exotic Weapon pro so that it can be used one or two handed.
That was my favorite technique when playing a Magus.
Round 1 - charge the enemy and attack once dealing x1.5 Str damage.
Round 2 - go 1-handed and do a full-attack spell combat attack
Round 3 - if enemy still standing, repeat round 2. Otherwise repeat round 1. Continue until all enemies dead.
Well, that was it up until I got Fireball, at which point that replaced round 1 during encounters with multiple foes.
Heh. Magus is fun.
... I would chip in with a +1 about how you can't do x1.5 strength with a spellcombat, but I think that has been well covered by this point.