Michigan State Basketball: What went wrong in loss to Wisconsin?
12th ranked Michigan State Basketball fell to the 9th ranked Wisconsin Badgers 85-76 on Christmas Day.
Friday’s Christmas day match-up between the 12th-ranked Spartans and the 9th Wisconsin Badgers was competitive throughout, but the Badgers made just enough plays to triumph over Michigan State Basketball in the end. After Joshua Langford buried a three to even the score at 15 in the early going of the contest, the Badgers and Spartans began to trade baskets and demonstrate that they could execute in a half-court setting.
The back-and-forth scoring continued when Aleem Ford converted a layup to give the Badgers a 29-24 lead, Joshua Langford responded with a two-point jumper less than 10 seconds later, and D’Mitrik connected on a pull-up jumper just 20 seconds after that. It looked Brad Davison’s three-point jumper was going to be the last bucket of the half, but Michigan State’s Foster Loyer had other plans.
As the game clock was dwindling down in the first half, Loyer came off of a ball-screen on the left-wing, elevated, and then drained a three-point jumper to tie the game at 42 going into the break.
The Spartans wasted no time getting to work in the second half, as they scored nine unanswered points and possessed a 51-42 lead with 16:26 remaining. The Badgers stayed composed despite realizing that the momentum was on Michigan State’s side, and engineered an 11-2 run to draw even with the Spartans with 13:45 to play.
The Badgers took a 65-62 lead with 7:04 to play (after Nate Reuvers knocked down two free throws), and never gave the Spartans an opportunity to regain the lead after that. The Spartans were within two points of the Badgers after Thomas Kithier’s two made free throws (71-69), but Johnathan Davis finished a layup close to 20 seconds later, and the Badgers went on to end the contest by outscoring the home team 12-7 (which helped them secure an 85-76 victory).
Michigan State was neck and neck with Wisconsin for most of Friday’s contest, but the Badgers were able to click on all cylinders at the right time and enjoy a well-earned Christmas day win. In terms of where the Spartans went wrong on Friday, well, in this article I am prepared to break down 3 things that plagued the 12th ranked Spartans in their second straight conference loss.