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Michigan State Basketball: Report card for Michigan loss

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:32 p.m. ET

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Feb 7, 2017; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo talks to guard Cassius Winston (5) during the second half against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. Michigan won 86-57. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State basketball took on, and lost to, Michigan on Tuesday night and here is the Spartans’ report card.

Losing to Michigan is never a good thing, but dropping one by 29 points in Ann Arbor is just flat-out embarrassing. There were very few positives to take from the defeat, but it started with poor defense and ended with lackluster offense.

Tom Izzo wasn’t happy with the way his guys played and you can tell how much he hates losing to the Wolverines. This comes just about a week after taking down Michigan at the Breslin Center, 70-62, so the blowout loss doesn’t make much sense.

Check out the full report card for each aspect of the Spartans’ loss to Michigan on Tuesday night. Which area graded out the highest?

Bench: C-

Not many contributions came from the bench on Tuesday outside of Alvin Ellis III who recorded nine points. Cassius Winston did have four assists, but his six turnovers were a killer for any momentum Michigan State would have had.

It was tough to see the young kid struggle off the bench, especially since this was the kind of game he wanted to prove himself in. He had four assists to six turnovers and a number of those were unforced — just silly passes or shot clock violations.

Kenny Goins played just 12 minutes and scored two points with a rebound. He didn’t do much off the bench, but he was also limited in floor time.

Matt McQuaid is another frustrating name to watch. He played just 10 minutes and had some open shots, but only took one, missing a 3-pointer. He needs to figure out how to consistently be part of the offense and knock down his shots like he did last year.

The confidence is lacking — and it was evident on Tuesday.

Feb 7, 2017; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Nick Ward (44) shoots on Michigan Wolverines forward Moritz Wagner (13) in the second half at Crisler Center. Michigan won 86-57. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Starters: B-

One of the highest grades from Tuesday night, surprisingly, goes to the starters. Michigan State’s starting five were far from perfect, but the top three scorers on the team came out of this group.

Let’s kick things off with the weak link from the game and that was Josh Langford. I’ve been high on this kid all season long, but he looked like a freshman out there against the Wolverines, finishing with no points and a turnover. He had a chance to shoot his shot, but passed it up multiple times.

Tum Tum Nairn finished with three points on a shot-clock beating 3-pointer from the corner, but he didn’t have a single assist. Instead of pushing it up the floor and kicking it out for a low-percentage shot, he should attempt a layup every now and then.

Eron Harris had his best game in a couple of weeks, scoring 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting. He didn’t look for his shot much, but I liked how aggressive he was early on, driving to the hole and making a couple of layups.

Nick Ward finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and a ‘trip’ of Michigan’s Mo Wagner. It wasn’t an obvious trip, but the dead-ball incident led to a technical foul. He was struggling to get anything going in the post, but still had a decent game.

Miles Bridges saved the day from total disaster yet again. He finished with a team-high 15 points and had five rebounds. He also had the highlight of the game with an incredible alley-oop in which the TV cameras didn’t do much justice. His head was at the rim.

Feb 7, 2017; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Miles Bridges (22) dunks in the first half against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Offense: C

What more is there to say about the offense against the Wolverines other than the fact that it was a real letdown? The Spartans struggled to gain any momentum because of the countless turnovers from tipoff until the end of the game.

Michigan State turned the ball over 21 times which led to a number of points off of turnovers for the Wolverines — including numerous fast-break buckets. Poor offense was the Wolverines’ best defense on Tuesday night, but they did also force the Spartans to turn it over via shot clock violations.

This might be the worst Tom Izzo-coached team when it comes to shot clock awareness during his two-decade long tenure in East Lansing. The offense just never seems to figure out when the clock is winding down and it led to at least 3-4 violations in the first half alone. Momentum was lost at that point.

It’s not like the Spartans shot poorly, making about 48 percent of their shots, but it was turnovers and poor perimeter marksmanship that led to the blowout loss on this side of the ball. Scoring 57 points against a lackluster defense is just unacceptable.

Josh Langford and Matt McQuaid were blanked in the points column on the box score. Not a good night all around.

Feb 7, 2017; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Zak Irvin (21) passes the ball defended by Michigan State Spartans guard Joshua Langford (1) in the first half at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Defense: D

Was this the worst defensive performance of the season? It had to be. Albeit this isn’t the typical hard-nosed Michigan State team we are accustomed to seeing on the defensive side of the ball, but there was little to no pressure put on the Wolverines Tuesday night which led to their best offensive contest of the season.

Backdoor passes, easy layups, poor pick-and-roll defense, wide open 3-pointers. All of those combined for what can be considered Izzo’s worst defensive showing in years. He was out-coached and his team was flat-out dismantled by the Wolverines.

Michigan has the best first half a team could even wish for, making 75 percent of its shots (21-of-21) as well as 8-of-11 shots from long range. They were dominating on the offensive side of the ball and you can’t do much defensively when a team is making all of its shots, but there were plenty that were uncontested.

The Wolverines looked like the team everyone was afraid would show up against the Spartans. When you live and die by the 3-pointer, you will end up blowing teams out while also failing to show up offensively — each game is different.

Michigan State’s defense looked awful in the first half and would have received an ‘F’ if it had played the same way in the final 20 minutes. Luckily, it rebounded to allow just 33 points and 11-of-25 makes from the floor in the second half.

Feb 7, 2017; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Matt Van Dyk (30) shoots on Michigan Wolverines guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (12) in the second half at Crisler Center. Michigan won 86-57. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Rebounding: B

To be fair, there wasn’t much rebounding for the Spartans to muster up on the defensive side of the ball. Michigan shot over 60 percent from the field, missing just 21 shots. The Spartans retained 20 defensive rebounds and allowed only two offensive boards to the Wolverines.

Must Read:  MSU Basketball: 3 things we learned from loss to Michigan

One of the strongest areas for Michigan State during the loss was the rebounding even though it only finished with 26. Not allowing a slew of offensive boards was an early key for this team and that would be a nice trend to follow in coming games.

Michigan State missed 25 shots and grabbed six offensive boards, but a couple of those second-chance opportunities were squandered by missed bunnies and just poor handling of the ball. It was an ugly contest all around and even some of the offensive rebounds went to waste because of the offense that ensued.

The Spartans out-rebounded the Wolverines 26-22 in one of those contests where there wasn’t much to gobble up off the glass. Michigan State needs to carry that tiny sliver of momentum (rebounding) that came from this game into future matchups.

You know it was a bad game when a ‘B’ grade is the highest, given to the rebounding category with only 26 boards to show.

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