Michigan State Basketball: What went wrong in loss to Wisconsin?

Rocket Watts didn’t provide enough for the Spartans offensively

Rocket Watts’ numbers through 8 games may not jump off the page at you, but he has played exceptionally well in spurts this season. Against the Duke Blue Devils (who were the 6th ranked team in the country at the time) Watts scored 20 points on 7-16 shooting (43.8%) and helped the Spartans exit Cameron Indoor Stadium with a 75-69 victory.

Watts came back the very next game and netted 23 points on 8-14 shooting (57.1%) against Detroit Mercy, which is a major reason why the Spartans were able to close out the Titans at the end of the contest. The Spartans were on the brink of dropping what would have been an embarrassing home loss to an inferior opponent, but Watts stepped up and contributed in a big way when the Titans sensed that a program changing victory was in sight.

When Michigan State competed against Wisconsin, Watts basically performed the same way he did against Northwestern a week ago, as he notched five points and only made two field goals (Watts went 2-11 from the field against Northwestern, and 2-9 from the field against Wisconsin). Sometimes on Friday, Watts had a good look and just couldn’t catch a break, but there were other times when Watts made the game more difficult than it needed to me.

For example, during Michigan State’s first offense possession of the second-half, Watts caught the ball on the left-wing, waited patiently for a screen from Joey Hauser, realized that Nate Reuvers had just switched on him, and then attacked him when he felt like he had Reuvers right where he wanted him.

In order to get around Reuvers, Watts performed a smooth right to left crossover, and then accelerated past Reuvers as soon as he lifted up slightly. When Watts got closer to the rim, however, he decided to settle for an off-balance runner as he was falling away from the basket.

For whatever reason, Watts didn’t pick up on the fact that he didn’t have the greatest angle when he arrived at the rim, which is probably why he didn’t get into the body of Micah Potter (who was prepared to meet Watts at the rim), and try to see if he could draw a foul and get to the free throw line at the very least.

I understand that Watts wanted to get the ball up on the rim as quickly as possible so that he could increase his chances of seeing the ball go through the net, but I have a feeling that Watts would have walked away from that possession with points, if he had put more pressure on the help side defender, as opposed to bailing him out with a shot that isn’t going to fall 9 times out of 10.

Joshua Langford was able to knock down a three after Thomas Kithier cleaned up Watts’ mess, and located a wide-open Langford on the right-wing, but that does not excuse the fact that Watts’ decision-making was below-average on that possession.

When Michigan State needed a bucket to help close the gap late in the contest (the Badgers had a 73-69 lead with a little over 3:30 to play), Watts attempted to deliver a timely basket for the Spartans. After Aaron Henry missed a pull-up jumper at the beginning of the possession, Thomas Kithier came down with a huge rebound and found Watts who was on the right-wing ready to attack the rim. Although Watts was able to blow by his initial defender (who was D’Mitrik Trice), Watts made the wrong decision when he was preparing to explode up at the basket.

Instead of finishing with his outside hand, and making it tougher for Nate Reuvers (who comprehends how to block shots at this level) to track the down the ball in time, Watts exposed the ball to Reuvers by attempting a layup with his inside hand, which Reuvers took advantage of. I get that Watts may have believed that he could get away with choosing the wrong finishing move, but he still should have kept the ball in his right hand and made Reuvers earn his first block of the contest.

I am sure that Watts will take some time to reflect on his poor play recently, and find a way to score the ball at a high level in Big 10 play. We all know that Watts can dish the ball with the best of them (he ended Friday’s game with 7 assists), but if the Spartans want to start stacking up conference wins, Watts will have to put the ball in the basket at a much higher rate.