Michigan State Worn Down By Physicality, Indiana's Dynamic Inside-Out Play

In its last three games, Michigan State has faced three of the Big Ten's most physical teams – Purdue, Rutgers and Indiana – and it caught up to the Spartans on Sunday at Assembly Hall in an 82-69 loss to the Hoosiers.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It was a true pick-your-poison game for Tom Izzo and Michigan State on Sunday at Assembly Hall.

The first option was to let Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis go one-on-one in the post, but Mady Sissoko and Jaxon Kohler offered little resistance as Jackson-Davis continued his All-American candidacy with 31 points, 15 rebounds five blocks and four assists. 

"I didn't think Mady played as well," Izzo said. "I think he got clocked pretty good early, which I thought was BS. He just didn't seem himself, but yeah he's got to play better and we've go to rotate those guys in there more."

Izzo said Jackson-Davis is playing the best basketball of his career, so option No. 1 was surely not a winning formula for the Spartans. Izzo has seen Jackson-Davis improve as a ball-handler and passer and was surprised to see him miss a few early shots.

More often than not, Michigan State chose to dig down and double-team Jackson-Davis with guards. Izzo said he elected to do this instead of doubling with their power forward because of Indiana's strength on the weak-side post with Jordan Geronimo and Malik Reneau. And when the Spartan guard left their man, Jackson-Davis had the awareness to kick it outside, where Tamar Bates and Trey Galloway made Michigan State pay.

Bates and Galloway tied for second among Hoosiers with 17 points apiece. Bates knocked down 5-of-6 3-point attempts and is now shooting 42.0 percent on 69 tries from beyond the arc. Galloway made all three of his 3-point shots, raising his percentage to 51.7 on 29 attempts. Izzo said he didn't expect Galloway to hit those kinds of shots entering the game.

But no matter which defensive strategy Izzo threw at Indiana, the combination of Jackson-Davis' dominance down low and the 3-point shooting prowess of Bates and Galloway proved impossible to overcome. Michigan State got out to an early lead and gave counterpunches to Indiana's runs, but the Hoosiers pulled away in the final 12 minutes to beat Michigan State 82-69.

With its third win in a row, Indiana moves to 13-6 overall and 4-4 in Big Ten play. Michigan State drops to 13-7 overall with a 5-4 conference record. The Spartans have gone through a gauntlet in recent weeks, playing six games in 16 days, but they're off until Thursday when they host Iowa. Michigan State's last three games were against Rutgers, Purdue, and Indiana, who Izzo considers three of the most physical teams in the Big Ten. He thought the physicality and quick turnaround caught up to Michigan State today.

"I thought Joey [Hauser] got the hell beat out of him and did a nice job," Izzo said. "They were physical with him, grabbing and clutching and I didn't think we handled that real well for a while."

"I think when you've got Joey and A.J. [Hoggard] in there the whole time, they just kind of wear down," Izzo said. "They didn't look like they were wearing down, but a step slow here a step slow there, forget to box out on a big play that they hit a 3 on."

Michigan State is dealing with a few ailments, including point guard Tyson Walker who has been sick the last few days. Izzo said Walker hadn't touched a basketball in preparation for Indiana, and he didn't think Walker would play when the team had breakfast on Sunday. With Walker sick and Malik Hall out for the third consecutive game, Izzo thought this hurt Michigan State's substitution pattern.

"We're just not deep enough to go through those things," Izzo said. "[Walker] grew up as a man today, he played as hard as he could play under the circumstances. That's what I meant about we just didn't have enough guys to go and win ... I know this sounds stupid, but I'm proud of the way we competed under the circumstances."

Things got chippy between Indiana and Michigan State throughout the game, specifically when Geronimo and Hauser received technical fouls on the same play in the first half. Izzo said he likes his team to play with an edge, but they didn't have the bodies to compete with Indiana for a full 40 minutes. 

"My guys didn't back down, but I didn't appreciate some of the things that happened including that first one," Izzo said. "I didn't appreciate that one. That's okay. I like that, it's just that we didn't have enough bodies to really throw that edge and play and really get after somebody."

"I always like it, I just never know how it's going to be called. One minute grabbing and holding is called, one minute you can't touch somebody or you can hand check. I think the consistency is not good. I didn't have a problem with much of it today, I just thought it was one of the more physical games."

Hauser led the Spartans with 22 points on 6-for-12 shooting, and Jaden Akins added 15. Even though they were Michigan State's top scorers, Izzo thought he needed to find Hauser and Akins more shots. 

Moving forward, Izzo isn't discouraged with Michigan State's big-picture outlook, but he knows the Spartans have to get healthy to be at their best.

"I'm not disappointed in my team," Izzo said. "We're going to win some games, and if we get healthy we're going to get a lot better. We need that, I think it's taking a toll on Joey more than anybody."

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• INDIANA BEATS MICHIGAN STATE (Game story): Michigan State couldn't figure out a way to guard Indiana on Sunday, and it led to another convincing victory for the Hoosiers, this time 82-69 for their third straight win. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 31 points and 15 rebounds, and Tamar Bates and Trey Galloway each added 17. It's their longest Big Ten winning streak in four years. CLICK HERE
• TAMAR AND LEILANI BATES SHINE: It was a big day for the Bates family, with sophomore guard Tamar scoring 17 points and his daughter Leilani winning the halftime baby race. CLICK HERE
• THOMPSON RETURNS: Indiana sixth-year forward Race Thompson has been out since suffering a knee injury on Jan. 5 at Iowa, but he returned to action on Sunday against Michigan State. CLICK HERE
• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Indiana won its third straight game by double digits on Sunday, beating Michigan State 82-69. Coach Mike Woodson was thrilled with the win, which he called a total team effort. Here is the full video of his postgame press conference, plus the transcript. CLICK HERE
• WATCH KOPP'S DUNK: Miller Kopp beat the Michigan State defense to the basket for an easy dunk, leading to roars from the Assembly Hall crowd. CLICK HERE
• WATCH TREY GALLOWAY'S 3-POINTER: Indiana junior guard Trey Galloway had the hot hand early on, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to give the Hoosiers the lead. CLICK HERE
• WATCH JACKSON-DAVIS DUNK ON HAUSER: Indiana star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis caught a pass in transition and dunked all over Michigan State's Joey Hauser. CLICK HERE