The nightmare continues for Michigan State basketball. The Spartans, who started the season ranked at No. 4, dropped their first game of conference play on Tuesday to Wisconsin, 70 to 57. MSU now falls to 4-4 on the season.
Once again, Tyson Walker was the only Spartan who was able to do much. Walker scored 22 points on the night. A.J. Hoggard did have a nice statistical night, scoring 14 points and adding seven assists and four rebounds, but made some questionable decision late in the game, the most glaring being a missed long-two point shot when MSU was within reach of Wisconsin with Tyson Walker on the bench getting a quick rest.
While this has been a calling card for Wisconsin this year, it was also shocking to see Wisconsin out-rebound the Spartans this year 36 to 22. That is also supposed to be a hallmark of an MSU team and they let Wisconsin pull down 11 offensive rebounds.
Another anomaly this year, outside of the bad rebounding and awful shooting, is the play of Jaden Akins. Akins only scored two points tonight in 21 minutes and actually got pulled for Tre Holloman at the end of the game. This was supposed to be Akins’ crowning season before likely making a run at the NBA. Instead, he is struggling to earn minutes in crunch time. It’s bizarre.
While things feel bleak, Michigan State will be at Nebraska on Sunday, against Baylor on Dec. 16 in Detroit, and then will play an Oakland team on Dec. 18 that isn’t consistent but also isn’t a pushover, having already beaten Xavier on the road this year and testing Ohio State on the road as well. Win two of three of those and MSU fans should feel better about the season.
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