Michigan State Basketball: Takeaways from Spartans’ loss to Wisconsin

2. Tyson Walker, and then what?

The clear production piece for the Spartans is senior guard Tyson Walker. He has been their leading scorer, facilitator, and pushes the tempo effectively. He has been a great bright spot for the season and has typically kept the Spartans in games. However, having 22 points in a game goes only so far when the rest of the team has 35 combined points with almost have coming from Jaden Akins alone.

The roster goes so deep with potential and proven talent from Sissoko, Carr, Cooper and more, but tonight their production fell below their usual marks. This has been an issue for the Spartans who have struggled from scoring efficiently from three and inside the arc often. In their biggest run to make one of their closest comebacks overall, the Spartans had production across the floor as you’d expect. From around the 16:00 minute mark in the second half to around the 13:00 minute mark, the Spartans outscored the Badgers 11 points to 7 with Atkins, Hoggard, and Walker all being in the mix.

Essentially, what’s trying to be said here is there is the version of the team that underperforms, and the version of the team that fires on all cylinders, the Spartans need to stick with the latter much more than they have.