4. Michigan State 17-9 (9-6)
Best Non-Conference Win
*On the road, defeated Seton Hall 76-73 in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
Key Big Ten Victories
*Swept the Fighting Illini and beat Illinois by a score of 76-56 at home.
*Beat Rutgers and Wisconsin at home.
*Swept Minnesota and defeated the Golden Gophers 70-52 on the road.
Disappointing Losses in Big Ten play
*Lost on the road to Purdue by a score of 71-42.
*Lost at home to Penn State, 75-70.
*Lost on the road to Michigan, 77-68.
Last Week’s Big Ten Power Ranking: 3 (Down one spot)
KenPom Ranking: 10
Net Ranking: 12
When the Spartans lost at home to Penn State and Maryland at home, it legitimately became a two-way race between the Terrapins and the Nittany Lions. Previously, the Spartans lost at Indiana and at Wisconsin and at that time, they still controlled their own destiny in the Big Ten. Now, Michigan State has lost four of their last five games and they need to win at least three of their remaining five games to attempt to secure a double-bye in the Big Ten tournament as a 3 or 4 seed.
Cassius Winston, Xavier Tillman, Aaron Henry, and a healthy Joshua Langford before the start of the season was arguably the best foursome in all of college basketball and Michigan State had very high expectations back in October. However, fast forward to the end of February and the Spartans offense is struggling to put up points. Outside of Winston and maybe Tillman, Michigan State has struggled to score when it matters in the final minutes of the game. The only real surprise that is considered a bright spot on offense has been the recent play of true freshmen Rocket Watts.
The good news now is that the Spartans have a relatively healthy Kyle Ahrens now who is a fifth-year senior. The bad news is that Gabe Brown who is a rising young offensive three-point specialist has been struggling offensively as of late as well as Henry who has been inconsistent with the offense side of the ball. On the other side, Watts who has a lot of potential, still makes the Spartans a very deep team and his defense is superb in Big Ten play. However, entering late February, you are seeing the Spartan offense struggle at the end of games which cost them home losses to Penn State and Maryland.
If you look at all of those factors, you should not be surprised by the fact that the Spartans lost a close game at home to a very underrated Penn State team and a very solid Maryland squad. Tom Izzo has talked specifically about the close losses this week and he hopes that his team can learn from those losses. The Spartans do not have an easy schedule to end the regular season but they can win three, maybe four of their last five games of the Big Ten regular season.
Izzo, Winston and the rest of the team are still wanting more and wanting to enter the NCAA tournament on a positive note. Remember, the Spartans are back to back Big Ten regular-season champions as well as reigning Big Ten Tournament champions. Even with the recent struggles of losing four of their last five games, they are still ranked in the top 12 of both the Net and Kempom rankings. The Spartans next travel to play Nebraska on Feb. 20th.