It was clear from the opening tip on Monday night that beating Cornell wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. The Big Red were giving Michigan State basketball all it could handle, and then some.
The two teams went into the halftime locker room of a 2-point game after combining for 108 total points and a boatload of fouls.
Tom Izzo couldn’t have been too happy about the defense as Cornell was shooting over 50 percent from the floor and nearly 40 percent from three. The Big Red had 53 first-half points which which was the most the Spartans had allowed in a first half this year, topping the previous high by 14 (!!).
The 97 points Cornell eventually finished with was just one point shy of the all-time record for opponent points in the Breslin Center.
All of this happened against one of the top 10 defenses in the country.
Should we be concerned?
Michigan State needs to tighten up expeditiously
While I’m not about to be concerned about a random 97-point night by a mid-major that jacked up 50 threes and shot over 50 percent from the floor for an entire half, creating several matchup problems, I am slightly worried that the recent defensive lapses are leading to bad habits.
Prior to Michigan State facing Penn State in Happy Valley, the Spartans had yet to allow 70 points to a single opponent on the season. The Nittany Lions changed that, and three out of the past four opponents have scored 70-plus on the Spartans.
That’s concerning.
The Spartans are falling asleep on back-door cuts, they’re turning the ball over lazily which is leading to easy transition buckets, and they’re not getting out to the 3-point line quick enough to contest threes.
Because of these recent issues, Michigan State is allowing 77 points per game over the past four, and that comes against Penn State, Toledo, Oakland, and Cornell — not exactly a murderer’s row.
Now, with upcoming games against No. 13 Nebraska in Lincoln, and No. 24 USC in East Lansing, Michigan State is going to have to get back to the basics.
If the Spartans come out flat defensively against Nebraska, I’ll officially be worried.