Carson Cooper’s last-second free throw misses were the difference between an overtime game and Michigan State losing a heartbreaker at No. 13 Nebraska.
The Spartans fell 58-56, dropping their second ranked game of the season by six points or less, and falling to 12-2 overall. Nebraska was just a little too much defensively, holding the Spartans to 34 percent shooting, but Michigan State’s defense got back on track, holding a really good offense to 58 points and 32 percent shooting.
Michigan State will now get a couple of days off before facing No. 24 USC which is coming off a 30-point loss to Michigan.
What’d we learn from Friday night’s heartbreaking loss in Lincoln?
1. Jaxon Kohler has become a special player
Jaxon Kohler’s career arc has been fun to watch. He has followed the Malik Hall and Joey Hauser career arc where he started a little slow and he’s grown into a legitimate All-Big Ten performer and the best player on the team.
On Friday night, he scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He was an astounding 5-for-6 from three which means he’s close to 50 percent on the season.
What a career turnaround.
2. Not having Divine Ugochukwu hurt
Divine Ugochukwu was listed as questionable before the game, much to everyone’s surprise, and he didn’t take the floor for the Spartans.
His absence clearly hurt.
Denham Wojcik had to play five minutes on the road against the No. 13 team in the country and he looked overwhelmed. Jeremy Fears Jr. was forced into playing 35 minutes and he was probably gassed. Ideally, Tom Izzo would allow Kur Teng and Trey Fort take over backup point guard duties. But I digress.
3. The turnovers have to be a wake-up call
This is now the third or fourth straight games where it looks like Michigan State’s half-court offense is just sloppy and lazy.
The Spartans turned the ball over 19 times and a lot of them were unforced.
This has to be corrected moving forward because you can’t turn the ball over 19 times and shoot 34 percent from the field if you want to win in the Big Ten. But also, turning it over 19 times and shooting under 35 percent and losing by two on the road against the nation’s No. 13 team should make fans feel good about what will happen when the Spartans are on their game.
Not many teams — if any — can beat a focused and sharp Michigan State team.