Michigan State surprised by ‘inept’ performance against Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. – The tone was set on the very first possession on Sunday night for Michigan State.

After Northwestern won the opening tip of the teams’ Big Ten season, Michigan State took to the defensive end and immediately made a series of mistakes against situations it had practiced for repeatedly.

That set the tone for a performance that was equal terms baffling and disappointing, one that ended in a 79-65 loss on Sunday night.

“One of the more inept performances of my 26 years,” Izzo said.

Players and coaches afterward tried in vain to explain how the three-time defending Big Ten champions came in at No. 4 in the country after an undefeated preseason and lost to a program that won just three league games last season. The win marked Northwestern’s first over a top-five team since 1979.

Izzo said the team prepared well in its week off leading up to the game and showed no signs in pregame that a dud was coming. Players say they felt ready.

But when they took the court, shots didn’t fall. Defensive assignments were missed. Rebounds weren’t grabbed.

What was most galling, though, was a lack of effort-related plays throughout the game that could have helped make up for a poor shooting night.

“We didn’t look at all like a Michigan State basketball team,” Izzo said.

Michigan State’s struggles started at the top. Rocket Watts shot 2-for-11 and didn’t score a point until three minutes remained. Joey Hauser played through a first-half knee injury and was just 2-for-7 with two rebounds. Joshua Langford fouled out in 15 minutes of game play and scored nine points. Aaron Henry shot decently (5-for-10) but had just two rebounds in 25 minutes. The Spartans’ starting five combined for 32 points and went 3-for-15 from 3-point range.

Izzo said having that many key players struggling made winning nearly impossible. Gabe Brown (10 points, 4-for-5 shooting) and Malik Hall (10 points, nine rebounds) couldn’t carry Michigan State.

The Spartans settled for 31 3-pointers, making just eight of them, while Northwestern attacked the basket and had eight more free throw attempts.

“We weren’t in attack mode, we were throwing up shots like we were afraid,” Izzo said.

Defensively, the Spartans allowed Northwestern to shoot better than 50 percent from the field. Langford said mental mistakes like the team made on its opening possession was confounded by a lack of effort.

“It gets really bad when you have effort-related mistakes and mental mistakes,” Langford said.

Izzo took the blame for how Michigan State performed on Sunday. Langford did likewise on behalf of the players.

And everyone was ready to look forward to a Christmas day game against Wisconsin.

“We’re all pissed off about this loss,” Hall said. “We know we got embarrassed. We know what we have to do.”

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