Michigan State basketball has plenty to clean up before opening the season next week against Colgate. The Spartans dropped their exhibition finale against No. 4 UConn in Hartford, 76-69, on Tuesday night, and it was clear that they didn't play their best.
I said it in my positive takeaways piece: Michigan State played a C/C- game.
While that can be looked at as a positive (and it was) that the Spartans played a mediocre game and still only lost by seven on the road to a top-five team, there are still plenty of concerns stemming from this loss.
1. Free throw shooting
When you get to the free throw line, you have to convert. When you get to the free throw line 44 times, you should be converting at least 75 percent of those. Unfortunately, Michigan State shot just 66 percent from the line, missing a whopping 15 free throws against UConn.
That was the difference between a win and a loss.
Unfortunately, the Spartans just couldn't get it done from the line with guys like Coen Carr (2-for-7) and Kur Teng (2-for-4) struggling. They have to be better moving forward (especially Carr) because they've shown that they can get to the line at a high clip -- they were just 13-for-20 vs. Bowling Green.
2. More slow starts
If you're an avid Michigan State basketball watcher, you'd know that the one thing that drives all fans crazy is a slow start. It's been the theme for years now in East Lansing, and that was the case once again on Tuesday night. The Spartans were down 10 points really early on, and then just never really got a whole lot closer.
UConn was able to hold the lead throughout the game and that double-digit lead was maintained essentially throughout. If not for that slow start, this would have been a 1-2 possession game for the most part, but the Spartans came out of the locker room looking a step or two slow.
The slow starts need to end before the big games begin.
3. Kur Teng's shooting
I want to preface this by saying that I'm still a firm believer in Kur Teng and I think he can be a really good player here, but this slow start in exhibition play is rather concerning.
Izzo has said that Teng was standing out as the team's best shooter during the offseason, but through two exhibition games, he's just 3-for-14 from the floor and 1-for-7 from deep. It's never a good sign when your "best pure shooter" is shooting under 15 percent from deep through two games that don't even count.
Luckily, Trey Fort has looked the part and should likely get the start, but Teng needs to find his shot so his confidence isn't crushed before it even builds.