I’m not sure if I can remember a worse start to conference play for Michigan State Basketball in the Tom Izzo era. In fact, this is the worst start to conference play for MSU in 19 years.
After dropping two straight to Northwestern and Wisconsin, the Spartans dropped their third consecutive Big Ten game in an 81-56 blowout loss to Minnesota on the road. This was the biggest loss to Minnesota in MSU history. Tom Izzo had called the Northwestern loss one of the ‘most inept’ of his career, but this one might have been worse.
For Minnesota, the story was about Liam Robbins and Marcus Carr. Both players scored well into double figures and felt unstoppable against a struggling MSU defense. Carr scored 19 and Robbins had 18 to go along with 9 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals.
For the Spartans, it is hard to find anything positive to talk about. AJ Hoggard and Mady Sissoko did flash some future promise for the Spartans, but aside from that, positives are extremely sparse. Hoggard scored 9 points and Sissoko, despite not scoring, had 6 rebounds in just 12 minutes of action and looks like he could be the answer at center in the future.
Rocket Watts continues to fight through what seems to be a lack of confidence on both ends of the court, only scoring 2 points on 1-for-9 shooting. Aaron Henry, who came off the bench to start the game, only scored 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting.
The Spartans will have until Saturday’s match-up against Nebraska to figure things out.
