Spartan Avenue
Fansided

Michigan State Basketball: Positives and negatives from Northwestern loss

By Connor Muldowney

Dec 20, 2020; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Gabe Brown (44) is defended by Northwestern Wildcats guard Ty Berry (3) during the second half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2020; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Gabe Brown (44) is defended by Northwestern Wildcats guard Ty Berry (3) during the second half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
Dec 20, 2020; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Northwestern Wildcats forward Pete Nance (22) defends Michigan State Spartans forward Aaron Henry (0) during the first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2020; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Northwestern Wildcats forward Pete Nance (22) defends Michigan State Spartans forward Aaron Henry (0) during the first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports /

Negatives

Always have to start with the bad news first. Michigan State had a lot of negatives on Sunday night and this wasn’t the first time some of these problems have arisen this season.

  • Defense. I cannot stress this enough, Michigan State’s defense has overwhelming potential, but has yet to show it on the floor. I’ve said it many times, Michigan State has three plus perimeter defenders and some shot-blockers, but it has yet to truly put a full game together. Boo Buie did whatever he wanted all night, which was concerning, and the Spartans had a tough time with switches and back-door cuts.
  • Rebounding. There is absolutely no reason a team like Northwestern should hang with Michigan State on the glass. The Spartans did dominate the offensive boards (11-3), but only holding a 33-32 advantage on the glass is just disappointing. This was with a week off.
  • Starting five. The starting five was bad on Sunday night. Like really bad. I’m talking worst game of the season by a mile bad. Aaron Henry scored 11 which paced the group and Joshua Langford added nine, but the group looked off. There was no cohesion, the shots weren’t falling and they got out-scored by the bench. Not a good look and a reason Tom Izzo benched them all with two minutes left.
  • Shooting. Does this need any more explanation? Michigan State couldn’t hit water if it fell out of a boat, going 8-for-31 from three and shooting 39 percent from the floor. Oh, and they were just 5-for-10 from the free throw line.
  • Bad fouls. Guys were getting beat off the dribble and instead of trying to recover or call for help-side defense, they were picking up bad fouls. One of the most inexcusable fouls of the night was the reach-in that led to Langford fouling out.
  • Slow start. As was a theme last season, Michigan State got off to a really slow start on the road and had a tough time playing catch-up. These slow starts will doom any team no matter how much more talented they are.
Home/Spartans Basketball