For the first time essentially all year, it looked like Michigan State basketball just didn't match up well as Auburn attacked with Johni Broome from start to finish to down the Spartans, 70-64.
It took a flurry of late threes to make it look closer than it really was, but Michigan State never showed any sign of quit and it was just a poor time to have your worst shooting game of the season. The Spartans made just 7-of-23 shots from deep and they shot just under 35 percent from the floor for the game. That's just a flat-out bad day.
And Michigan State's defense really didn't have a poor game, and it even locked Auburn down after falling behind 23-8, going on a 14-5 run and holding the Tigers to just 33 first-half points.
In the end, though, Auburn was just a little too strong for the Spartans. What'd we learn?
1. This team never quit
Seeing Michigan State respond to a 17-0 Auburn run in the first half with the fans being overwhelmingly Tiger-heavy with a 14-5 run, slowing the pace down drastically was impressive. In the past few years, we would have seen this team fold or make a fake comeback before eventually just running out of gas.
Not this year's team.
More often than not, this team falls behind early, uses its depth to tire teams out in the second half, surging back to really wear them out in the final 5-10 minutes of each. The Spartans were down the whole game, looked like they took some knockout punches, and hit right back with runs of their own.
What a fun squad.
2. Jaxon Kohler showed what he could be
One of the bright spots in this game was the play of Jaxon Kohler who did get out-dueled by National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome but he held his own on the big stage.
Kohler finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds and while he didn't have the best luck on the defensive end with Broome, he more than looked like he belonged.
For a guy who began the year as the backup center, Kohler proved himself and ended on a strong note which means that he could have one of those truly special senior seasons that we've seen under Izzo.
3. Tom Izzo is back
Am I overreacting to Tom Izzo's best season since Cassius Winston was still on the roster? I don't think so, and I'll tell you why.
Izzo took a team that was supposed to be middle-of-the-pack and turned them into the best team in the Big Ten by three whole games and he did it with one of his worst shooting teams. Imagine what he can do with even a 33-35 percent 3-point shooting team this season. It had all the feel of No. 2.
Izzo proved that he could get back to the top, he just needs better shooting next season and when you combine that with "Defend. Rebound. Run.", you're going to do some big things.
We'll see what the roster looks like next year in the coming weeks.