Michigan Gets Run Out Of East Lansing

It was close at halftime, but Michigan State poured it on in the second half.

Michigan came into East Lansing on a three-game winning streak, while the Spartans were limping a bit having lost two out of its last three. But inside the Breslin Center, against their hated rival, the Spartans were just too much for the Wolverines. Michigan State defeated Michigan 83-67 to remain tied atop the Big Ten standing while U-M fell to 4-4 in conference play.

1. Shooting woes return

Michigan shot 57% from the floor during its three-game winning streak, but that number fell to 37% against the Spartans in East Lansing and plummeted to 16% (3-for-19) from behind the three-point line. Hunter Dickinson, DeVante' Jones, Moussa Diabate, Terrance Williams II, Frankie Collins and Brandon Johns Jr. all went 0fer from behind the long line and even Eli Brooks, who had been Michigan's most consistent shooter, went just 1-for-4 from long range. It was a terrible shooting day for the Wolverines — the single biggest reason why they lost by 16 points.

2. Struggles on defense

Michigan State really likes to get out and run and they did that well against Michigan today. There was a pretty big disparity in fast break points (Michigan State 28, Michigan 16) and MSU's were often far too easy. Michigan struggled at getting back on defense and you could see Juwan Howard yelling about it all day long. Joey Hauser simply should not beat Michigan's entire defense down the court on a rim run for an uncontested fast break layup. Those kinds of breakdowns just can't happen on the road against a very capable rival.

3. Turnovers

The overall number wasn't necessarily worrisome, but the timing and how they happened were. Michigan finished with 13 turnovers (as did Michigan State), but throughout the first chunk of the second half, they came fast and were extremely careless as MSU played and scored efficiently pushing the lead out to 15+. Multiple entry passes were thrown in without any velocity or placement allowing the Spartans to tip them out and start their fast break. Not only did it lead to easy run outs and momentum for Sparty, it severely hampered U-M's approach on offense and allowed the crowd to get back into it in a big way.