Trice’s 27 not enough, Michigan State falls to Nebraska

It just was not in the cards for Michigan State, losing to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 79-77 Saturday afternoon. After narrowly escaping with a six point win against Penn State, Michigan State could not pull out a miracle in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Now, 13-7 and 4-3 in Big Ten play, Michigan State did not look like a good team. They were out hustled and the big men seemed out matched defensively, in the post all game.

Nothing worked for the Spartans, their three point shot or two point shots were not as crisp as it normally is, shooting a pathetic 35 percent from three and 41 percent from the floor. They also had trouble hanging on to the ball, turning it over 16 times, including a few crucial ones down the stretch.

In fact, nothing was crisp for the Spartans, their ball movement was lackluster, their shot selection was questionable and they looked outmatched the entire game.

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It was a very strange game, normally when a team is plus 22 in rebounds, they win, but for Michigan State, that was not the case. On a positive note, they were able to score 21 second chance points and pull down 24 offensive rebounds, in the losing effort.

There was not much offense to speak of for Michigan State outside of Travis Trice and Denzel Valentine, as they were the only two players to score in double figures for Michigan State and scored 41 of the teams 77 points.

In a big conference game, the bench for the Spartans was nonexistent, scoring an awful seven points.   Costello was nonexistent, scoring just one point while the next highest scorer off the pine was Bryn Forbes who scored a mind blowing four points.

The same can be said for Nebraska. While they had three players in double figures, their offense primarily came from guards Terran Petteway, who had 32 and Shavon Shields who finished with 21.

As always, free-throws hurt the Spartans, going 60 percent compared to 78 percent by Nebraska.

This loss is not solely on the Spartans free-throw struggles, it’s on everything.  Outside of Trice and Valentine nobody attempted more than seven shots. For a team like Michigan State, where ball movement is a number one priority, stats like those come as a surprise.

The loss currently drops the Spartans to sixth in Big Ten Standings. Now, barely over .500 in conference play, the concern is, is Michigan State too far back to have a chance to win the Big Ten.

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Mathematically, they have not been eliminated but how this team has gone from hot too cold then back to hot makes you wonder. The team still has to play Michigan twice, Ohio State, at Wisconsin and at Indiana.

It is do or die time for Michigan State. They cannot afford many more losses if they want to get a decent seed in the NCAA Tournament, if they are able to clinch a tournament berth at all this season.

Up next for Michigan State is a trip to Louis Brown Athletic Center to take on Rutgers, January 27^th at 9 p.m.