Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from embarrassing loss to James Madison

Shocking. Embarrassing. Disappointing. Those are just a few of the words that I’d use to describe Michigan State basketball’s season-opening loss to James Madison at home.

I don’t really care that the Dukes are projected to win the Sun Belt this season. That doesn’t mean much to me. This is a loss by a No. 4 team at home to an unranked non-power conference team. That shouldn’t happen, especially when the hosting team has national title aspirations.

Tom Izzo has a lot of work to do on this team if they’re going to turn things around before facing Duke, Baylor, and Arizona in non-conference play.

What’d we learn from this shocking home loss to James Madison?

3. The effort, execution, preparation was lacking

In all three aspects of effort, execution, and preparation, Michigan State was lacking and it was somewhat shocking considering this team got a chance to gauge its potential against Tennessee just a week earlier. That game should have been a wake-up call to this team, showing that they’re not all that just yet.

But, apparently, they wanted another wake-up call.

This time in the form of an unranked Sun Belt opponent.

The effort was disappointing, the execution was pitiful, and the preparation was on Tom Izzo. This team came out looking lost and unprepared to take on the projected Sun Belt champs.

It’s soul-searching time.