Michigan State Basketball: Quick thoughts from embarrassing loss to Michigan

Michigan State basketball fell to Michigan on Thursday night in an embarrassing 69-50 loss. There were more downs than ups.

The Michigan State Spartans fell to the Michigan Wolverines Thursday night in an embarrassing 69-50 loss. There were more downs than ups in this game for Tom Izzo and his team.

Let’s take a look at what happened in each half.

First half

Michigan State was scoreless for the first 3.5 minutes of the game. They then picked it up and put some points on the board. Aaron Henry was responsible for the boost, seeming to take control of the Spartans’ pace.

It seemed that the star forward almost did too much, having three turnovers to his name. Henry ended up finding himself in foul trouble, and ultimately had to depart from the court. When he left the game, the Wolverines went on a 9-2 run, ending the half with a 39-28 lead. Michigan hit three 3-pointers, compared to MSU’s zero.

The Spartans were just simply outplayed in the first half. The Wolverines defeated Tom Izzo’s squad in numerous categories on the stat sheet, most notably field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and total rebounds.

Second half

The Spartans started the half slow, submitting to the Wolverines who opened the half with a 10-0 run. The Spartans were scoreless for 8 minutes in the second half. MSU just couldn’t put the ball in the net. Unfortunately, nothing worthy of writing about occurred in the second half. It was pure domination by the Wolverines.

Analysis

This game was tough to watch. For a team trying to make the tournament, they sure didn’t play like it. To beat the No. 2 team in the nation, someone has to step up. No Spartan did so, resulting in an embarrassing loss. MSU’s leading scorer was Henry who ended with 14 points. Nobody else scored more than eight.

The Wolverines ended the game dominating the Spartans in nearly every category on the stat sheet. The Wolverines led in 3-point percentage, rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage. MSU failed to hit a single 3-pointer in Thursday’s loss, going 0-9.

Michigan, on the other hand, hit seven of their 16 3-point attempts. The Wolverines dominated the glass, out rebounding the Spartans 34-26.

All in all, this was an embarrassing performance by Izzo and Co.

The team looks to bounce back Sunday afternoon in a rematch versus Wolverines.