On what they hoped would be a night to remember, the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans (19-5, 10-4 Big Ten) will be hoping to forget Tuesday’s matchup with the Indiana Hoosiers (15-10, 6-8 Big Ten). After racing out to an early 20-8 lead midway through the first half, the Spartans limped their way through the rest of the game, ultimately falling 71-67 to an Indiana team that was desperate for a win following head coach Mike Woodson’s announcement that he will retire at the conclusion of the season.
It was a tale of two (and a half) halves for the Spartans. After racing to a twelve-point lead halfway through the first half, the Spartans went cold from the field and gradually lost ground to the visiting Hoosiers. Indiana took their first lead of the game with a pair of Oumar Ballo free throws with two minutes left in the first half and never surrendered their lead for the remainder of the game.
Trailing by as many as nine points at times during the second half, the Spartans utilized tight defense to attempt a rally in the game’s final minutes, cutting the lead to only one point with fourteen seconds remaining in the game. The Hoosiers’ zone defense, which had flustered Michigan State all evening, proved too much to overcome as the Spartans failed to make a field goal in the game’s final thirty seconds.
Indiana Hoosiers forward Malik Reneau, in his best game since returning from a knee injury suffered on January 2 against Rutgers, dominated the second half, scoring sixteen of his nineteen points after the break en route to a 19-point, 12-rebound performance.
Guards Jaden Akins and Jase Richardson paced Michigan State in scoring. Akins notched 14 points on 6/15 shooting from the field while Richardson, making his second start of the season, added 13 points and 6 rebounds on 5/12 from the field.
Michigan State Spartans Recent Struggles Continue
Two issues that have plagued the Spartans reared their ugly heads once again on Tuesday night: turnovers and three-point shooting. The Spartans committed eleven total turnovers during the loss, including eight in the second half as they tried to claw their way back into the game.
The Spartans once again struggled with the three-pointer Tuesday night. They finished with a paltry 4/23 (17.3%) shooting performance from beyond the arc. Following the loss, the Spartans are only making 28.3% of their three-point attempts this season. Michigan State ranks 18th in the Big Ten and 357th nationally in three-point percentage. Coach Izzo credited Indiana’s tough zone defense with disrupting the Spartans’ rhythm Tuesday night:
“They haven’t zoned much all year, maybe minutes, and we haven’t ran into much zone. But then, when you run into it, your shooters gotta make shots and guys that have made shots didn’t make shots.”
Tom Izzo’s Magic Night Spoiled
In addition to being the Spartan’s third loss in four contests, Tuesday night also delayed a special milestone for head coach Tom Izzo. After the team’s 86-74 win over Oregon on February 8, Izzo was one win away from becoming the Big Ten’s all-time leader in conference wins as a head coach. In his career as head coach for the Michigan State Spartans, Tom Izzo has accumulated 353 wins in the Big Ten, the joint-highest total in conference history alongside former Indiana head coach Bob Knight.
Speaking to the media following the game, Izzo apologized to those who travelled to Tuesday’s game, saying his team simply wasn’t good enough and that it spoiled what could have been a special night for both himself and the program:
“A lot of people, including my two college roommates, that came a long way… and came in for it and I feel bad for them because we had an opportunity for a special night. I don’t think the players played very well and I don’t think the coaches coached very well, so that’s a bad combination against a team that was desperate.”
The Michigan State Spartans will hope to rebound (and get Tom Izzo the Big Ten wins record) on Saturday, February 15 when they visit the Illinois Fighting Illini (17-8, 9-6 Big Ten). The Spartans prevailed against the Illini in a tight 80-78 victory in the Breslin Center earlier this season. Illinois is coming off a hard-fought 83-78 win over the UCLA Bruins on February 11.
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