Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from ugly win over Nebraska

Like all Michigan State basketball games this year, this one wasn’t pretty. A 16-point lead melted away in the second half, but what’d we learn?

A four-game losing streak finally came to an end on Saturday night as Michigan State beat Nebraska for the second time in about a month to improve to 9-7.

Michigan State looked good, at times, growing a lead to 16 points in the second half, but the offense stalled out and the Spartans let the Cornhuskers hang around before winning 66-56 in the end.

Joey Hauser had one of the worst games of his career, Rocket Watts was absent for most of the second half and the turnovers piled up for the Spartans. Luckily for the Spartans, Joshua Langford and Aaron Henry played well offensively and Marcus Bingham Jr. had a solid defensive game while also scoring six points.

What’d we learn from Saturday’s ugly win?

3. Joey Hauser is going through a heck of a slump

Before the game, I predicted that Joey Hauser and Rocket Watts would both play well in the same game for the first time seemingly in months, but boy was I wrong.

Rocket disappeared in the second half with minimal playing time and he finished with just five points and Hauser had an even worse showing. He fouled out with no points and one rebound which is darn near inexplicable for a 6-9 starting big man.

Hauser is going through one of the worst slumps of any MSU player in recent memory, averaging 7.0 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 6-for-27 from 3-point range in the eight games since dropping a career-high 27 points against Wisconsin.

The junior forward’s body language was unsettling late as he just looked defeated and Tom Izzo was not happy with him. Let’s hope he figures this out.