Michigan State basketball pinpoints mistakes that cost Big Ten tourney loss to Wisconsin
INDIANAPOLIS – The waiting might not be the hardest part.
An opportunity lost for another championship banner brought tears inside No. 6 Michigan State basketball’s locker room Saturday. And how the Spartans unraveled and lost themselves − albeit briefly, but just enough to prove costly – in their 77-74 loss to No. 14 Wisconsin left Tom Izzo and his players in a Bermuda triangle of frustration, optimism and resignation.
“Honestly, we're upset and disappointed that we couldn't get this win,” junior Jaxon Kohler said. “But if you look on the positive side to this, this is gonna light a fire under us.
"And this is going to get us to a certain point so where we're not so upset what happened in the (Big Ten) tournament. We are just gonna be motivated and energized to get into the (NCAA) tournament and not make those same mistakes.”
Because Izzo knows far too well, in his 30 years as head coach and now finding himself with an extra day to prepare for his record 27th consecutive NCAA tournament, those lapses in judgement from here out are the difference between a special season and one that ends prematurely.
And, sometimes, with far greater regrets.
“We didn't quit,” Izzo said after regular-season champion MSU (27-6) saw its eight-game win streak end. “We came back, we made plays. And every time we made a couple of great plays, we made a couple of bonehead plays. A couple of weird turnovers, a couple of things that we just can't do if we're gonna compete at a level with the teams that you have to compete against to move on in any tournament.”
Regrets, they had a few
Indeed, as Kohler and Izzo put it, mistakes were made.
Two early fouls he called “stupid” landed Kohler on the bench for the final 11:07 of the first half. The Spartans went from a 22-16 lead, after building a quick nine-point cushion, to trailing 37-33 at halftime. The junior had been a dominant presence on the boards before sitting.
“That's one thing I'm taking away from this game that I need to really learn,” said Kohler, who finished with seven points and seven rebounds. “I need to make sure that I can't get two stupid fouls. And I feel like one of them was a stupid foul.”
More early second-half foul trouble plagued Kohler and freshman Jase Richardson, but MSU – as it did for the bulk of the Big Ten season – fought back. The Spartans took a lead with better defense leading to an 8-0 run that included two Carson Cooper buckets, a Tre Holloman driving layup and an alley-oop dunk by Coen Carr that made it 45-41 a little over four minutes into the final half.
That’s when one of those major gaffes came, as Holloman got whistled for a technical foul while the two teams were going back to their benches during a media timeout with 14:39 remaining.
It turned into a momentum-swinging moment. Wisconsin’s John Tonje, who scored 32 points, hit both free throws and drained a 3-pointer on the ensuing extra possession. That began an 11-0 run for the Badgers (26-8), who didn't trail again after seizing the lead in the final 1:13 of the opening period.
“I just lost my mind, and then I just snapped back. I gotta keep my cool,” said Holloman, who had 10 points on just 3-for-12 shooting. “That really changed the game.”
Still, the Spartans weren’t finished, even as Tonje continued his assault and the Badgers’ complementary players kept making tough shots. A 3-pointer by Bloomfield Hills native and Birmingham Brother Rice alum John Blackwell put Wisconsin up six with just over seven minutes left, but Richardson hit a 3-pointer and made three free throws to tie it up less than a minute later.
That was as close as MSU would get, even as Kohler hit a 3-pointer with 1:01 left to cut it to two and the Spartans failed to convert two attempts to tie it in the final 15 seconds.
“One thing I mentioned before about this team is that we don't give up,” Kohler said. “No matter what the time is, what the score is, what's going on, we don't hang our heads until there's 0:00 on the clock, until there's no time left.”
Waiting for dance partner
The next time the clock expires and the Spartans are trailing will be the end of their season. They understand that. The NCAA selection show begins at 6 p.m. Sunday (CBS), and MSU appears ticketed for a No. 2 seed, potentially close to home in Cleveland barring significant late movement.
“You gotta have that mindset to move on, because the season's still not over,” said Richardson, who led MSU with 21 points Saturday. “We still got March Madness, and this is where it really gets real. We gotta come in, change our mindset and focus on whoever we got to play next.”
Izzo knows. He’s been there, done that, many times over. This is a group he’s professed his belief in and shown his appreciation for all season. It’s also a team he believes can make a deep run in the NCAAs, even with none of his players having experienced beyond the Sweet 16. MSU also has had two first-weekend exits and a First Four loss in the past four seasons.
Past mistakes Izzo wants to atone for as well.
“I think we can do a lot of things. We could have won this tournament,” Izzo said. “It's not what you can do, it's what you do. … I think this team has performed way above where they are. And yet, I think there's a ceiling yet to get to.
“And that's gonna be my job in next five days.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball laments mistakes in Big Ten tourney loss
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