If you were looking for a reprieve from the disaster that has been the 2026 Michigan State football season, you were probably disappointed on Sunday afternoon as the Spartan basketball team struggled with Marquette.
For the second time this week, Michigan State took the floor against a team that’s likely going to play in the NCAA Tournament in the spring, but for a second straight game, the Spartans struggled mightily.
Marquette controlled the game and beat Michigan State 86-79.
Michigan State has played 80 total minutes of exhibition basketball this week and it’s trailed for about 78 of them. It’s been one of the most forgettable stretches of basketball in the past few years but thankfully these games don’t count.
The Spartans need to figure something out in a hurry because the regular season starts next week. This does not look like the team everyone raved about in the offseason.
What’d we learn from MSU’s sleepy exhibition loss to Marquette?
MSU is not a top-10 team right now
Watching Michigan State basketball struggle in the middle of a six-game losing streak for the football team has been a nightmare, but that’s just the reality of being a Spartan fan lately.
Michigan State has been receiving a ton of hype entering the season but it has yet to play like the national title contender that we were promised this season. So far, it doesn’t even look like Michigan State is a top 25 team, but the Spartans are way too talented to be unranked. For some reason, they’re playing a really disjointed brand of basketball.
The Spartans will need to snap out of this rusty slump to begin the season before they face Duke, Gonzaga, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
Concerning start to the year for sure.
Defending the 3 has been a problem
Not only did Michigan State struggle in shooting the three, but it also had a tough time defending the perimeter which is disappointing considering they have several elite defenders on the roster.
Marquette was left open far too much — just like UConn was on Tuesday — and the Golden Eagles made the Spartans pay, converting on 9-of-18 attempts.
It’d be one thing if this was the first time this has happened in exhibition play, but UConn burned the Spartans from deep earlier this week.
This is fortunately a correctable issue.
MSU has no confidence offensively
Brick after brick, turnover after turnover, and just sloppy execution led to a second straight exhibition loss and it’s starting to turn into a concern after what looked to be a flawless opener a few weeks ago against Incarnate Word.
Obviously the opponents have gotten tougher since Incarnate Word, but Marquette was 12-20 last year and should not have controlled the entire game like it did.
Michigan State was shooting under 40 percent for a majority of the game and it really struggled from deep while Marquette flourished. The Spartans looked horrendous.
The panic button sitting on the table as we speak.
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