Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from horrible loss to Iowa

Coming into Tuesday night's game, Michigan State basketball was riding a three-game winning streak and it felt like the perfect opportunity to grab a fourth straight win over an Iowa team that was just 15-11 on the year and had just two road wins all year.

And then a lackluster effort led to a 78-71 loss at home to the Hawkeyes.

Michigan State fell behind early, grabbed a 24-21 lead, and then Iowa went on a run that was never stopped by a Tom Izzo timeout for whatever reason. The Spartans went into the half down by 12 and then tried to claw their way back but could never seem to pull closer than five.

In the end, Iowa shut the door and Michigan State dropped a disappointing home game. What'd we learn from this shocking loss?

1. Post production is a disaster

I mean, what are we even doing at this point? Mady Sissoko got the start again which wasn't shocking and Tom Izzo said that he would be keeping him in the lineup, but he picked up two quick fouls and played just five total minutes. It's clear that he's phasing Sissoko out a bit, but Carson Cooper played just 12 minutes and Jaxon Kohler played 19. Not horrible, but a little head-scratching.

The biggest head-scratcher was Xavier Booker playing just six minutes after Izzo vowed to let him see the floor more after his growth over the past couple of months. He had two points, two rebounds, and a block in six minutes but apparently that wasn't good enough.

There's no reason that the most naturally-gifted big man on the team should be playing six minutes, especially when the Spartans were getting absolutely cooked by Ben Krikke.

Oh, and Kohler, Sissoko, and Cooper combined to go 1-for-5 from the floor with nine total rebounds.

Don't even get me started on the post touch that led to a horrible shot by Cooper in a critical situation.