Spartan Avenue
Fansided

Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from heartbreaking loss at Indiana

By Connor Muldowney

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - JANUARY 23: Tom Izzo the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans gives instructions to his team against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on January 23, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - JANUARY 23: Tom Izzo the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans gives instructions to his team against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on January 23, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 09: Xavier Tillman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts to a call during the second half of the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Breslin Center on January 9, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 09: Xavier Tillman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts to a call during the second half of the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Breslin Center on January 9, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

2. Michigan State needs to get better in the post

I’m going to start this off by saying that Xavier Tillman plays well game in and game out and he’s not the problem down low, but the offense rarely goes through him in the post. Rarely do the Spartans look to feed him down low like they did Nick Ward and let him get some points in the paint.

This is talking more about the lack of depth and other scoring options down low as well as post defense outside of Xavier.

Marcus Bingham Jr. wasn’t scoring anywhere near the paint on Thursday night and he struggled mightily on defense. He was getting bullied by Joey Brunk and Trayce Jackson-Davis and that led to a dominant effort by the Hoosiers down low. That type of lopsided post scoring can’t happen against other Big Ten teams because that’s how you lose big games on the road.

Thomas Kithier came in and struggled as well. He scored a nice layup in the first half when the Spartans needed a bucket, but missed a critical layup in the second half. He also fared poorly on defense and picked up some silly fouls.

Malik Hall played well, but he’s just a pup.

Overall, the post play for the Spartans was lacking on Thursday night.

Home/Spartans Basketball