Michigan State Basketball: Tom Izzo has questions to answer after Minnesota loss

After more questionable late-game coaching decisions, Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo needs to determine if sending lessons are more important than winning.

January, February, Izzo. Right? After another loss with questionable coaching decisions, a lot of Michigan State basketball fans are left scratching their heads. But before Tom Izzo goes under the scope, it’s important to keep in mind that the Spartans were bad for most of Friday’s loss against Minnesota. They scored 58 points and the loss was a just result.

Must Read: MSU Basketball: 5 bold predictions for March

However, good teams have the ability to tough out wins, even in games they don’t play well in. After the last few months, it’s evident this is not a good team, or at least a consistent one.

March is here, yet Michigan State already has three losses in the month, and all of them could’ve been wins. The problem is that nothing has changed throughout the season. The same issues popped up in losses two months ago and I decided to back the Hall of Fame head coach. With the NCAA tournament on the horizon, one would think changes would have been made since those January losses. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

Once again, Nick Ward didn’t see more time against Minnesota because of defensive liabilities, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds in 20 minutes. Should someone tell Izzo that Kenny Goins has given up a number of easy baskets in their last two losses? In the Minnesota loss, Ward finished with a plus/minus of plus-four compared to Goins’ minus-10. That’s been the exact case a number of times this season, even when Ward isn’t in foul trouble, such as this game.

The absence of Ward in the lineup was extremely glaring in Friday’s loss as the only routes of offense were through him and Miles Bridges. Izzo knew he would’ve been blasted even more had he kept Ward on the bench for the final four minutes, but he smartly put the big man in at the under-four timeout. Of course, this was after Michigan State lost its 52-50 lead after Goins couldn’t hold his own in the paint. Conveniently for beat writers (and this article), Izzo put Goins back in for defensive purposes with just under two minutes to go and Minnesota immediately fed Reggie Lynch for an all-too-easy layup over the shorter Goins.

This article goes into greater detail about why Ward hasn’t played more with reactions from the coaches. It’s apparent the coaches look at it one way, and the fans another.

Elsewhere, none of the hopeful X-factors stepped up after Josh Langford took it upon himself to be the team’s third-best offensive player against Penn State. Instead, Langford attempted one shot in the first half and his only made field goals came in a one-minute period in the second half. This was after scoring 13 points and hitting two shots before the first timeout against the Nittany Lions.

Good defense or not, that inconsistency is a microcosm of Michigan State’s season. With no one else producing against the Gophers, Matt McQuaid was forced into off-balance shots that were never going to go in, while Alvin Ellis turned gun-shy after struggling against Penn State. It’s a wonder if someone told Ellis not to shoot as much after going 2-for-9 on Thursday.

The thing is, it’s better for the team if Ellis forces shots than having McQuaid take leaning three-pointers or getting rejected on a layup attempt. And if everyone is too scared to shoot when Bridges isn’t on the floor, the Tum Tum Nairn hoist from beyond the three-point line is what will happen.

So why hasn’t Izzo figured out how to implement Nairn into the half-court offense better? After three years of collegiate basketball, nothing has changed. Defenses know they don’t have to give much attention to Nairn because he won’t shoot open threes if he gets them. If Izzo is going to bench Cassius Winston because his defense is subpar, then surely he has to move Nairn around on the offensive end so he isn’t such a liability. Again, it’s been three years yet we still have to watch Nairn pass up wide-open shots.

It’s not disappointing that Michigan State lost to Minnesota, it’s disappointing that the fans have seen this kind of loss all season. Back in January, I said to believe in Izzo because he’d have things figured out by March, but that’s far from the case. And if the Spartans go out like this in the NCAA tournament, Izzo will have a lot more questions to answer.

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