MSU starts slow, fades at end, loses to Wisconsin
Chris Solari
EAST LANSING — More second-half fight. Not enough again.
Michigan State basketball clawed back from a 12-point first-half deficit and cut Wisconsin’s lead to three on two separate occasions after halftime. But the Badgers pulled away to a 7057 victory Tuesday night at Breslin Center in the Big Ten opener for both teams with a 12-2 knockout run that included nearly five scoreless minutes by the Spartans.
Coach Tom Izzo quickly put the onus on himself for another slow start and inability to finish after a second-half comeback.
“We are not tough enough right now. And that’s all me,” Izzo said. “So I’ll be here all night, I promise you that. We’ll get it fixed. And so blame me, not the players. And that’s not to soften it up. We had some guys who didn’t play very well.”
Tyson Walker scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, including three 3-pointers. A.J. Hoggard had 10 of his 14 points and six of his seven assists after half, with his free throws with 11:21 to play getting MSU within 51-48.
But Wisconsin’s AJ Storr ensured Wisconsin never lost the lead it held all game. He keyed the Badgers’ 19-9 finishing run over the last 8:42, finishing with 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
“It’s super-frustrating,” Hoggard said. “We’re not coming to play early, we’re not coming to play hard. We gotta figure it out.”
It was the first time Wisconsin has won three straight at Breslin and the Badgers’ first time doing it at MSU since 1961-63 at Jenison Fieldhouse. It also was the first time the Spartans lost both their home opener (against James Madison on Nov. 6) and Big Ten home opener in the same season since 1962-63.
Steven Crowl added 18 points, six rebounds and five assists for Wisconsin (7-2, 1-0), which outrebounded the Spartans, 36-22 overall and 11-5 on the offensive glass. Five of those offensive boards came in a 5-minute, 30-second stretch after MSU cut it to a three-point game. The Badgers finished with a 19-8 secondchance scoring advantage, with offensive rebounds leading to eight points in their closing stretch.
“We weren’t being Michigan State on the boards tonight,” Hoggard said.
Sloppy start
Izzo drastically altered his starting lineup, with Malik Hall in a reserve role due to an illness that kept him from practicing over the weekend. MSU started Carson Cooper and Mady Sissoko in a double-big lineup against 6-9 Tyler Wahl and 7-foot Crowl. Hoggard also returned to the opening group after coming off the bench against Georgia Southern.
It didn’t work early.
Sissoko lost Crowl twice for 3-pointers on the Badgers’ opening two possessions, then got caught up in a Crowl screen on the third trip that freed up Chucky Hepburn for another 3pointer. A pair of Storr free throws extended Wisconsin’s hot start to an 11-2 lead not even five minutes into the game.
“I think it was more of what we were doing in the practice and what we were doing guarding-wise wasn’t really working as well as we thought it would in the game, which forced us to have to change some coverages,” said Cooper, who led MSU with seven rebounds but scored just three points. “And I think sometimes it got confusing for people. Me, too.”
Hall ended up playing 23 minutes, finishing with just two points, three rebounds and three assists but also struggling late defensively. Izzo said Hall did not even attend Monday’s practice and had a 101-degree temperature earlier Tuesday, before the senior forward was listed as questionable.
“It was not until game time than I even thought that Malik would play, and I didn’t handle that very well. I played him way too many minutes,” Izzo said. “Give him credit for trying to suck it up, because our two bigs struggled early.”
Hoggard struggled defensively trying to match up with the 6-7 Storr after that, giving up seven straight points to the sophomore forward who transferred from St. John’s. That gave Wisconsin its biggest lead of the half, 20-8, at the midpoint.
Walker finally got in the scoring column with 8:57 left before halftime, but he made just 2 of 8 shots for four points before the break.
Hoggard put a strong offensive stretch together, scoring through contact and hitting a long jumper to pull MSU within 28-23 with inside 21⁄2 minutes left before the break. But Cooper lost Crowl for another 3-pointer, then Storr connected from deep as time expired to send the Badgers to the locker room back up double-digits, 34-23.
Recovery falls short
MSU showed some defensive chutzpah coming out of the break, then started to get things rolling offensively. Particularly Walker.
The senior guard hit a jumper and knifed through baseline traffic for a layup. Hoggard drained a 3-pointer, and the Spartans cut it to eight.
After a Badgers 3-pointer from Conner Essegian pushed the lead back to 11, Walker caught fire, with help from Hoggard.
The two hit back-to-back 3-pointers to quickly slice it back to a five-point hole. Then on back-to-back possessions, MSU ran the same down screen for Walker to pop out to the left wing. Both times, Hoggard delivered inpocket passes, both times Walker drilled 3s. The Spartans were within 49-46 on his second.
“Tyson was being Tyson,” Hoggard said. “I just followed his lead and just did what a vet is supposed to do.”
However, MSU could get no closer. After Hoggard’s free throws, Storr drilled a 3-pointer to spark the clinching run, then added five more points as the Badgers’ lead swelled back to 13.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com . Follow him @chrissolari .