No one was predicting a Michigan State basketball win over Michigan on Sunday afternoon, but the Spartans were in it until the very end as they ran out of gas in the final few minutes to lose, 90-80.
It was a disappointing finish for the Spartans, but this is one they’re going to learn from. Obviously you never want to get swept by Michigan, and Tom Izzo hadn’t in over a decade, but Michigan State is going to be just fine.
There were a lot of correctable mistakes in this one, but I fully expect Izzo to have his guys ready for the Big Ten Tournament and March Madness.
What’d we learn from the disappointing loss?
1. Jaxon Kohler is all the way back
A couple of weeks ago, there was a bit of a worry that Jaxon Kohler was slipping into a major slump, but he was still being productive, just not his normal November-early January self.
Over the past few games, however, he‘a looked like himself again.
On Sunday, he led the Spartans with 23 points and was an astounding 10-of-13 from the floor. He battled on the glass, too, grabbing eight rebounds. He was Michigan State’s best player on Sunday and he did all he could in terms of defending Michigan’s three-headed monster in the frontcourt.
We got Kohler back at the perfect time, folks.
2. The lack of bench production hurts
Throughout the season, Michigan State’s bench got thinner and thinner, and now only two guys play consistent minutes off the bench: Cam Ward and Kur Teng. We saw a couple minutes of Jesse McCulloch early to spell one of the bigs and just a few minutes of Denham Wojcik. We didn’t see any Trey Fort.
Ward had a tough game, going 0-for-2 from the floor with one rebound, no points, and four fouls. It was a tough game for the freshman big man.
Kur Teng scored eight, but it took him eight shots to get that. The depth could be a concern in March, but the starters are playing really well as a whole right now. The Spartans’ bench was out-scored 29-8 by Michigan’s.
They just ran out of gas on Sunday.
3. This team can hang with, and beat, anyone
Anyone who believed that Michigan and Michigan State didn’t belong on the same court on Sunday didn’t watch the game. You might hear about the “double-digit win” by the Wolverines and some Michigan fans may even gaslight you into thinking the game was a blowout, but Michigan State held its ground and nearly pulled this one out.
The Spartans were up by four midway through the second half and then had some mental lapses and you just can’t do that against Michigan. The margin of error is too slim.
However, the Spartans were very much in this game, and it was 76-72 while MSU had the ball late, but just poor execution on some sets really cost them the game.
Other than the Wisconsin game this season, Michigan State has been in every single game near the end, and they’re held late leads against Duke, Michigan (twice), and Nebraska. I’m not worried about this team being able to hang in March.