Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from overtime loss to Louisville

1. Slow starts are going to doom this team

You can’t fall behind by 10 points, especially on the road, and expect to come back every time. Sure, the 19-point comeback over Texas was impressive and so was the near-comeback against Kansas, but the Spartans can’t continue these sluggish starts.

Michigan State came out and looked tired, falling behind by 10 points in the first half before cutting the Louisville lead to six points thanks to a buzzer-beating floater by the Cardinals.

Some clutch shots in the second half helped the Spartans overcome multiple double-digit deficits and they went on to pull ahead late and it looked like they were about to put things away with a bunny from Xavier Tillman, but he missed off the back of the rim — it was one he would most certainly like to have back.

Playing catch-up wore this team out down the stretch and it showed in overtime as they couldn’t seem to put two straight strong trips down the floor together.

Get ahead early on, or just keep it close, and this team won’t have to worry about scrambling to make big shots late or living and dying by the three. This loss was completely avoidable.