Michigan State basketball<\/a> was extremely close to pulling off a massive upset in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, but it came up just short against Purdue, 67-62. In what turned into a very frustrating game to watch, the Spartans still played extremely well and fought hard until the end of the game.<\/p>\n However, losing is never good enough this time of year, so what went wrong in the Spartans’ loss today?<\/p>\n The Spartans’ offense once again struggled to hit open shots. Overall, they shot 39 percent from the field and 22 percent from three. That just isn\u2019t good enough. Everything else was there for MSU today, they just couldn\u2019t get their shots to fall.<\/p>\n And it wasn\u2019t for a lack of good play calls either. I thought this was one of Tom Izzo\u2019s best games all season. He ran many nice sets that gave his guys wide-open shots. MSU just couldn\u2019t get those shots to fall. It\u2019s one thing if Purdue had played great defense and Michigan State was missing contested shots, but that wasn\u2019t the case. Michigan State\u2019s lack of hitting their wide-open shots ultimately is the reason they lost this game.<\/p>\n This game was also lost by Michigan State thanks to an awful eight-minute stretch. The final four minutes of the first half and the first four of the second half were just awful. During that stretch, Purdue ballooned its lead from four points up to 12. Sure there may have been some questionable calls, but it wasn\u2019t enough to swing the game this much.<\/p>\n The end of the first half and beginning of the second half is where a lot of games are won and lost. Unfortunately for MSU, this is where they lost this game. We all saw how great they played after this poor stretch, but a 12-point deficit is too much to overcome in most games. If the Spartans instead had played Purdue even during this stretch, they probably come away with the win.<\/p>\n It\u2019s impossible to write about what went wrong in this game without mentioning the refs. This may have been the worst game I\u2019ve seen all season from an officials’ standpoint. Two points in this game stood out for me from the officials.<\/p>\n The ending of the first half saw back-to-back offensive fouls from Tyson Walker and Malik Hall. The first on Walker was a complete flop by Purdue’s Lance Jones. The second was on Hall when he was just standing there and Jones ran into him and flopped. Neither foul should have been called, and if they weren\u2019t MSU likely wouldn\u2019t have been down by seven at the break.<\/p>\n The second obvious blown call came late in the second half in a critical moment. Purdue drew another charge, but Jones’ foot was clearly in the restricted area. By rule, you can\u2019t take a charge in that area. The refs didn\u2019t review the play and MSU missed out on two free throws when the game was extremely close.<\/p>\n @bigten<\/a> we need answers pic.twitter.com\/wihqlNQF5D<\/a><\/p>\n — Daily MSU (@daily_msu) March 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nFailure to make open shots<\/h3>\n
Brutal eight-minute stretch<\/h3>\n
The ref show<\/h3>\n
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