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Michigan State Basketball: Can Michigan loss be wakeup call for Spartans?

By Connor Muldowney

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 03: Miles Bridges #22 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts from the bench after fouling out in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines during semifinals of the Big 10 Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 3, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 03: Miles Bridges #22 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts from the bench after fouling out in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines during semifinals of the Big 10 Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 3, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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Michigan smacked Michigan State for the second time this season but could this finally be the wakeup call the Spartans needed?

As the final buzzer sounded to signal the end of Michigan State’s second poor showing against Michigan this season, the Spartans knew what this meant. They got a rematch with the last team to beat them, on their home court no less, but made the exact same mistakes as they did during the first meeting.

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Miles Bridges wasn’t making his shots, the defense continued to allow open shots around the perimeter and Cassius Winston struggled to defend Zavier Simpson. Nothing went the way it was supposed to and the Spartans fell flat yet again.

There were no fingers being pointed at anyone else but themselves. Each player seemed to take the blame and Tom Izzo knew his guys weren’t as prepared as they should have been. Was this the wakeup call this team needed to make a deep run in March?

Listen, I understand that this team is the winningest regular season Spartan squad in school history, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re not playing to potential. For about a month now, the Spartans have let weaker teams hang around for far too long and the second a good team comes along (Michigan), they crumble.

The mental toughness is being tested right now and if the Spartans can come out of this two-week break with a more focused approach and treat the ‘win or go home’ scenario as just that, they will be able to shake off this second ugly loss to Michigan and make a Final Four push.

The players seemed angry and defeated in the locker room, and for good reason. This was supposed to be a revenge game, but Michigan came out and punched the Spartans in the mouth yet again with no return jab.

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Michigan State needs to find that fire again, and this loss may have rekindled it. No more excuses, the only way this team can lose in the NCAA Tournament is if it beats itself, and with the amount of talent on the roster, that shouldn’t happen again.

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