Michigan State took to the road and fell in Minneapolis by a score of 81-56 to the Golden Gophers. The Spartans now fall to 0-3 in conference play and have sole possession of last place in the Big Ten. ZT gives his quick reactions to the defeat below:
People were talking about the Northwestern loss being one of Izzo’s worst, which obviously it was not, but tonight if someone were to say that I may actually agree with them. Disregard the 81-56 final this team looked so bad tonight. A complete lack of effort on both sides of the ball, this team looked so lost out there tonight. On offense, I do not know if I have ever seen a team shoot the basketball so bad in a single game. The Spartans shot 18-70 from the field and 6-25 from deep. Only one player, Aaron Henry, who came off the bench once again for Michigan State, scored in double figures with 11 points. Plain and simple, you are not going to win many games when that happens. Izzo having Henry come off the bench was clearly a statement that was needed to be made after his poor performance against Wisconsin. He played a little better tonight only having 2 turnovers, but still shot a very poor 3-10. He did, however, make his only shot from deep and all four of his free throws. Nonetheless, he needs to play better. On defense, this team had one of its worst games in a long time. Multiple times did we see missed assignments, poor help side, and easy buckets being made by the Gophers. We were told that this could be one of the best defensive teams that Izzo has ever put on the floor, and we have yet to see that be reality this season for an entire game.
Despite the absolute pitiful display of basketball that we all watched tonight, I did feel that there were a few positives that came out of it. The first one needs to be the cutdown of turnovers. Against the Badgers on Christmas Day, the Spartans had 14, yet tonight, only 6. I will say though, I have always been a big believer that a bad shot is like a turnover, and there were plenty of those taken tonight, so I would add to that number by a few. But if you look at the box score itself, that number looks a lot better, and the less turnovers the more chances you have to score. Another positive is that Rocket Watts was moved off the ball, where he needs to be. Granted, he still did not play to the ability that we all know he is capable, 1-9 (0-3 3pt) for 2 points, he seemed more comfortable out there. Foster Loyer and AJ Hoggard are capable of running the point for this team, and that bring me to my next point: AJ Hoggard needs to play more. In 15 minutes, AJ had 9 points and 2 steals, but more than that he seemed to push and move the ball, which was basically nonexistent the rest of the game, and brought a spark off the bench. You could already see his leadership abilities as he was teaching Rocket at half, probably how to be a point guard, but nonetheless, this is something you love to see out of the young freshman. I would not be surprised if he starts Saturday against Nebraska solely based on the fact that he played hard tonight. Another bright spot was fellow freshman Mady Sissoko. Down low tonight, Mady played the best post defense on Robbins out of any of the big guys, and with the loaded frontcourts in the Big Ten, he needs to get more time. Sissoko finished with 6 rebounds in 12 minutes, only trailing Thomas Kithier, who had 7 for the Spartans. TK continues to prove himself as to why ne should be starting for this team, as he finished with 5 points and 7 rebounds, and 4 of the on the offensive glass. He keeps doing all the little things, which do not always show up in the box score, but the true basketball minds really appreciate.
I am going to keep the concerns pretty short, as they are the same things, I feel they have been lacking in all season: Shot Selection, Finishing, Offensive Flow, and Defense. All were subpar once again in this game. Like I said before, a bad shot to me is like a turnover, they just all happen to be live-ball and a problem this season has been giving up points off turnovers. Finishing wise there were over 20 points again left at the rim tonight, and this continues to be an issue that haunts this team. We can get to the rim, but if you can not put the ball through the bucket, it does not mean a thing. The flow was something that really stuck out to me as we seemed very slow on offense and not moving without the ball. You did not really see any cuts or any sort of motion like we have been accustomed to seeing with this team. Defense was atrocious, that all I have to say.
I felt that this next short statement deserved a paragraph all in itself: I really hope Rocket Watts goes pro. I feel like this may be a very hot take amongst Michigan State fans, but I keep finding myself more and more aggravated with his play. His shot selection is terrible, he is slow moving the ball, and he struggles to defend. For all the people that gave Foster slack coming into this season, I believe he has had a better year so far. It is another thing that does not show up in the stat book, but there is a clear difference in the way this team plays when he is in the game.
Is it panic time yet? No. Do we need to really take a look at this team with an ounce of caution? Yes. Obviously, this is a start to league play that none of us expected, but this is still a pretty solid basketball team. We just need to trust Tom and it will all be alright.
ZT
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