Indiana's Defense Collapses in Disappointing 80-65 Loss at Michigan State

When Michigan State finally got rolling late in the first half, the Spartans never looked back. They erased a nine-point Indiana lead and stormed to an 80-65 victory on an emotional Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Indiana lives and dies with its defense, and when it disappears for long stretches, the Hoosiers are in trouble.

That happened Tuesday night at the Breslin Center, and when Michigan State got hot, they ran away from the Hoosiers in a way-too-easy 80-65 victory. Michigan State hit 10 three-pointers — guard Tyson Walker had five of them — and the Hoosiers never recovered. 

"Our defense was non-existent. We didn't control the ball, and that's something we've been pretty good at,'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. "I thought their guards had their way against our guards, and we couldn't overcome it.''

The points came in bunches for Michigan State. Indiana was comfortably ahead most of the entire first half, but the tide changed when point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino picked up his second foul with 6:28 to go in the half. The Hoosiers were leading 22-13 at the time, but as soon as he went out, Michigan State's guards got hot.

The Spartans outscored Indiana 22-7 down the stretch to take a 35-29 lead to the locker room, and Indiana coach Mike Woodson chose to sit Hood-Schifino throughout the entire run. Walker hit four three-pointers during the streak to put Michigan State ahead. He had been Hood-Schifino's defensive assignment before he went out. 

Michigan State's Tyson Walker tries to drive past Indiana's Tamar Bates :: Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Michigan State got the lead to double digits quickly in the second half. Indiana made one run to cut the lead to 53-48 with 12:03 to go, but the Spartans went on an 8-0 run and never looked back. Indiana got no closer than eight the rest of the way.

With the loss, the Hoosiers dropped to 19-9 overall and 10-7 in the Big Ten, effectively eliminating their chances of winning a regular-season title. Michigan State is now 17-10 overall and 9-7 in league play. 

There are seven teams with seven league losses now, so the scramble for positioning for seeds in the Big Ten Tournament will be intense in the final 12 days of the season.

Senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis led the Hoosiers with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and he now has 2,100 career points at Indiana, tying him with A.J. Guyton for No. 4 all-time on the school's scoring. He has set the bar high during this All-American season, but this was a struggle on Tuesday. He had seven of Indiana's 13 turnovers, and missed several shots right at the rim.

Freshman point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino had 16 points but was 0-for-5 from three-point range. Trey Galloway had 11 points and played 32 minutes with no turnovers.

Hood-Schifino was part of the story line because he picked up a second foul with 6:24 and Woodson took him out of the game. The Hoosiers were leading 22-13 at the time, but Michigan State went on its 22-7 run to end the half with Hood-Schifino on the bench.

Woodson defended his decision to keep him sitting, saying he does it all the time ''because 40 minutes is a long game'' and he expects others to step up when Hood-Schifino is on the bench.

That didn't happen. 

"I think we just got out-toughed for the most part. We played pretty solid for the first couple of minutes, but then they just took it to another gear,'' Galloway said. "We have to get back to the things we've been good at. We've showed spurts of playing great defense, so we to go back and find the ways that we've gotten stops previously. 

"Walker really killed us early in the first half. It's frustrating after getting off to a good start and then falling apart.''

Indiana have up double-digit threes for the first time since Jan. 11 when they gave up 18 longballs in an 85-66 loss. Since then, the Hoosiers went 9-2 before Tuesday night, and allowed just 5.9 threes per game during the hot streak..

Indiana is back on the road on Saturday night, taking on No. 5-ranked Purdue at Mackey Arena. They finish the regular season next week with home games against Iowa on Tuesday and Michigan on Sunday.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• WATCH HOOD-SCHIFINO'S LAYUP: Indiana freshman point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino made a fast break layup over Joey Hauser to give the Hoosiers an early 8-0 lead. CLICK HERE
• WATCH JACKSON-DAVIS' SPIN MOVE: Trayce Jackson-Davis used his patented spin move to get past Jaxon Kohler for an easy layup in the first half against Michigan State. CLICK HERE
• WATCH MILLER KOPP'S THREE: Miller Kopp drained a 3-pointer deep in the corner to give Indiana a 27-24 lead in the first half against Michigan State. CLICK HERE
• LIVE BLOG: Relive all the action from Tuesday night's game with Tom Brew's live blog straight from press row. CLICK HERE