Five Takeaways: Michigan State lifeless on offense in loss to Rutgers
A tough stretch continued for Michigan State on Saturday when the Spartans fell to Rutgers at Madison Square Garden, 61-55, for their fifth loss in seven games.
MSU falls to 14-9 overall and 6-6 in Big Ten play on the season, and Tom Izzo's program is now 26-26 in conference play over the last two and a half seasons.
Here are five takeaways from a disappointing game for Michigan State:
1.) MSU's offense stagnant, ineffective
Michigan State has gotten off to slow starts all season long. The Spartans have also suffered from scoring droughts throughout the season. MSU is overly-reliant on outside shooting. All of those things showed up today in an ugly basketball game at Madison Square Garden.
On almost all of Michigan State's possessions today, the ball stuck outside on the perimeter until there was 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Rutgers is a good defensive team, and closed off driving lanes for A.J. Hoggard, Tyson Walkers and others, but the Spartans' ball movement was very poor.
MSU got some decent looks from outside throughout the game, but when you don't have good ball movement its tough to get into a rhythm. Unsurprisingly, the Spartans shot very poorly as a result, finishing at 34 percent from the field, including 4-of-21 from beyond the three-point line (19 percent).
2.) Tyson Walker was underutilized
Very few guys on either side shot the ball well today, but one who did was Tyson Walker. Yet, for some explainable reason, the senior barely touched the ball down the stretch for Michigan State.
Point guard A.J. Hoggard dominated the ball, taking ball screens from Joey Hauser, Malik Hall and Mady Sissoko, while Walker often stood in a corner.
Inside the final minute, the Spartans finally had Walker bring the ball up and gave him a ball screen. The senior made one nice stepback crossover dribble to lose his defender and drill a three-pointer, cutting MSU's deficit to five points with 46 seconds left. But, it was too little, too late at that point.
Walker finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-5 from three-point range. He was the only Spartan to shoot better than 40 percent with at least three shot attempts. It's baffling that Michigan State didn't run more sets for Walker throughout the game.
3.) Turnovers...again
This season, Michigan State has taken better care of the basketball than they have in previous years. However, we've seen the turnover problem rear its head again in recent outings, and it definitely was a factor today.
The Spartans had 14 giveaways today against Rutgers, and while MSU did a good job defending after a turnover — the Scarlet Knights had just eight points off turnovers — those empty offensive possessions hurt a little more in games like these where points are hard to come by.
Hoggard played probably his worst game of the season, shooting 3-for-10 from the field, 0-for-4 from three-point range and committing five turnovers with only two assists.
4.) Michigan State's defense crumbles late
Michigan State was excellent on the defensive end of the floor for most of the day, but the Spartans struggled to defend Rutgers guard Paul Mulcahy down the stretch.
After being held scoreless in the first half, Mulcahy willed his team to victory with 17 second-half points. Michigan State couldn't find a good defensive matchup for Mulcahy late in the game, as both Joey Hauser and Malik Hall struggled to keep the Scarlet Knight senior out of the lane without fouling. Meanwhile, Jaden Akins sat on the bench while Mulcahy took the game over in a head-scratching substitution decision by Izzo and his staff.
Michigan State limited the Scarlet Knights to just 38 percent from the field, and 3-for-16 from three-point range, but that wasn't enough to overcome the deficiencies on the offensive end.
5.) Brutal frontcourt play for MSU
Michigan State's centers and forwards were mostly dreadful today.
Starting center Mady Sissoko picked up two early fouls and barely played in the first half, before finishing with 19 minutes. Sissoko had five points, five rebounds and a block.
Hall worked his tail off on the glass, finishing with 13 rebounds (six offensive). But the senior was hesitant and out-of-sync offensively, shooting 1-of-9 from the floor and committing three turnovers.
Hauser had multiple looks from outside early but couldn't find his shooting stroke, going 0-for-4 from three-point range and 4-for-11 from the floor. He finished with 10 points, five rebounds, a block and a steal.
Meanwhile, freshmen Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper didn't make much of an impact. Kohler played multiple minutes in the first half with Sissoko in foul trouble, but his defensive liabilities kept him on the bench for most of the second half. Cooper wasn't given much of an opportunity at all, playing just two minutes.
Up Next
Michigan State (14-9, 6-6) will have two days rest before hosting Maryland (15-7, 6-5) on Tuesday. The Spartans will then enjoy four days rest before hitting the road again with a trip to Ohio State (11-11, 3-8).
