Michigan State Basketball: Sloppy play an eye-opener vs. Rutgers

Michigan State basketball found out that not every game in Big Ten action is a sure win on the road against Rutgers on Tuesday night.

Another game, another win, but this time it wasn’t as pretty. Michigan State had been rolling opponents for the better part of the last few weeks, but Rutgers put up a strong fight in Piscataway on Tuesday night.

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It seemed like an upset was in the works as the Spartans, No. 3 in the country, failed to pull away from the Scarlet Knights. They were knotted up at the half, 26-26, and it looked like the Scarlet Knights were the more aggressive team, but they couldn’t make their shots.

Michigan State overcame the sloppy play with solid defense for the sixth straight contest. In fact, this was the sixth straight opponent that Michigan State held under 63 points and that just goes to show how much a good defense can carry a team on poor shooting nights.

The Spartans held Rutgers to just 26 percent shooting from the floor, but only shot 39 percent themselves. On top of that, silly turnovers nearly doomed Michigan State down the stretch as it finished with 14.

This sloppy play can’t continue to be a trend for the Spartans as Michigan State was nearly mistake-free against Nebraska. The poor shooting isn’t something to be worried about, but poor play, turnover-wise, could doom this team on the road down the stretch.

Nearly losing to an average Rutgers team on the road should be an eye-opener for the Spartans who have been lightly-tested since the Duke game.