Michigan State Basketball: Simple issues are causing Spartans’ demise

Non-Loyer issues

Of course, Foster Loyer isn’t the only issue with this team, just the largest issue. In fact, the offense looked bad on paper, but didn’t actually play that poorly against Iowa. For the most part, the issues came down to execution. Shots weren’t dropping for MSU and they were dropping for Iowa.

Michigan State actually played pretty well in some facets of the game.

In fact, Tom Izzo succeeded at shutting down Luka Garza, but at what cost? Who cares that Garza was held to eight points if Joe Weiskamp and Connor McCaffrey combine for 10 made 3-point shots? I mean, at the start of the game, they were literally leaving these guys wide open so that they could defend Garza, and Iowa was feasting from the three point line. It’s like he didn’t even want to win — he just wanted to stop the National Player of the Year.

Izzo’s desire to win could also be questioned when he sat Aaron Henry for the most crucial stretch of the game for no clear reason. In the two previous wins, Henry was on the floor for 32 and 34 minutes and he was clearly Michigan State’s best player. Against Iowa, he played for 22 minutes, just two more than Loyer. Why is your best player on the court for the same amount of time as your most detrimental player?

That’s what has been so infuriating, the issues aren’t complicated. Play your good players more and play your bad players less. It feels like Izzo has promises that he’d rather keep than actually win basketball games. At some point, he has to swallow his pride and bench the guys who aren’t working.