Michigan State basketball: Disappointing doesn't even begin to describe Iowa loss

It's been almost 24 hours and the disappointment is still hitting hard. Michigan State basketball dropped a home game to a mediocre opponent and it just still doesn't feel right.

The Spartans fell to 17-10 overall with the loss instead of improving to 18-9 ahead of another winnable matchup at home against Ohio State. A win in both of these games likely would have seen Michigan State climb back into the rankings for the first time since the first month of the season. Unfortunately, the Spartans got caught overlooking Iowa a little and were playing catch-up all game long en route to a 78-71 loss.

This is one of those losses that never should have happened and a true contender doesn't suffer in these types of situations.

Sure, this could be a wake-up call and good teams lose games like this all the time, but in a year when winning on the road in the Big Ten has become next to impossible, beating a barely above-average Iowa team with its top freshman in foul trouble the entire game should've been a lock. Iowa was just 2-7 on the road entering Tuesday's game.

Tom Izzo didn't have his guys ready, we didn't see the two talented freshmen who would have undoubtedly caused mismatches and would have made Iowa's zone work overtime, and the effort just wasn't there in the first half from some veteran players.

It was disappointing, shocking, crushing, heartbreaking, and just disgusting all rolled into one game. Calling this a disappointing loss doesn't truly do it justice. This loss could be the difference between Michigan State earning a 5-6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and it being right back on the bubble, flirting with the 8-9 range.

We're all sick of the inconsistency.