Michigan State basketball: Time to burn the Purdue tape and move on

Another year, another Michigan State basketball loss at Mackey Arena. There truly isn’t an arena in college basketball that haunts the Spartans more than Mackey and that was true yet again on Sunday afternoon as the Boilermakers smacked them around in the first half and then cruised to a 16-point win, 77-61.

It’s time to just accept it: Michigan State isn’t going to beat Purdue until it gets some elite post play to match up with whatever 7-footer the Boilermakers are throwing out there.

For the second time in the past two weeks, the Boilermakers beat the Spartans and it was due to primarily Zach Edey getting whatever he wanted in the post. He finished with 38 (!!) points and 13 rebounds with three blocks. He had 32 a couple of weeks ago. On the season, he finishes with an average of 35 points and 15 rebounds in two games against MSU.

Tom Izzo didn’t have an answer for him as Mady Sissoko struggled to guard him once again and Carson Cooper just isn’t there yet to defend a guy like Edey.

Purdue is the No. 1 team in the country, and because of Edey, it looked like it on Sunday.

And that’s OK. Time to burn the tape and move on to Rutgers.

Michigan State basketball must bounce back immediately

Losing to Purdue was pretty much expected from every Michigan State fan who has seen what the Boilermakers have done to the Spartans in Mackey Arena since 2014.

So we can live with the loss as long as they still showed fight while down big and they did. The Spartans out-scored the Boilermakers 39-37 in the second half which isn’t a moral victory, but it is a sign that this team didn’t just fold.

Michigan State doesn’t match up well with Purdue. No one does. But the Spartans had their chance a couple of weeks ago in East Lansing, losing by just one with seconds left to this same team but this may not be the last meeting between these two teams. Purdue and MSU could meet again in the Big Ten Tournament.

But let’s not look ahead. Michigan State needs to have short-term memory, burn the tape, and move on to face a team that they dominated last week in Madison Square Garden.

There are still important goals ahead.