Michigan State Basketball: 3 takeaways from loss to No. 6 Baylor

Michigan State basketball is going to take some lumps this season, but Tom Izzo can sleep well knowing that his team hasn’t been completely dominated for 40 minutes against the top two teams the Spartans have faced.

While the final scores may not indicate it, Michigan State hung with both Kansas and now Baylor for the most part, but too many offensive lulls and turnovers lead to these pull-away wins by top-10 teams. That needs to change moving forward and when it does, Michigan State is going to be a dangerous team.

Still, beating Loyola Chicago and UConn en route to the Battle 4 Atlantis title game is a good sign and this team is only getting better. On Friday, the Spartans just ran out of gas.

What’d we learn from this tough loss to Baylor?

3. The second half was a nightmare

Holding a 36-31 lead right before halftime, it looked like Michigan State had Baylor right where it wanted the Bears. But a 7-0 Baylor run heading into the break gave the Bears all the momentum they needed in order to cruise in the second half.

Michigan State came out in the second half looking as flat as can be and were boat-raced by the No. 6 team in the country.

Baylor dominated the glass, made the shots, and forced turnovers while the Spartans looked shell-shocked. Tom Izzo didn’t quite have the second-half adjustments and Baylor took advantage, out-scoring Michigan State 37-22.

This was probably the worst half of basketball Michigan State has played all year and you just can’t do that against the sixth-best team in the country.