This was not the start we were all hoping for. Michigan State basketball<\/a> opened its season with a stunning 79-76 overtime loss to James Madison<\/a>. Now don\u2019t get me wrong, James Madison is a good team. They were even picked to finish first in the Sun Belt. But by no means is this a game the Spartans should ever lose.<\/p>\n A lot went wrong for Michigan State in this game that caused this depressing loss.<\/p>\n Here are the three things that stood out to me the most that caused us to lose this game.<\/p>\n Usually when big upsets happen it’s because the better team has an off night offensively. That was definitely the case on Monday night. Every team has their off nights and it\u2019s never a surprise if that happens in the first game of the season, but Monday\u2019s game was especially bad. Michigan State was 1-for-20 from 3-point range. They weren\u2019t even close misses which might make you think we got unlucky, some of these misses were terrible. I\u2019m talking airballs or off the side of the backboard bad. Free throw shooting wasn\u2019t much better either as the Spartans shot 62.2% from the charity stripe. That includes starting 2-for-10 and missing the front end of many one-and-ones. This bad night shooting is the difference between a comfortable win and a heartbreaking loss.<\/p>\n What makes this night shooting even worse is when you look at our numbers last year. Michigan State led the Big Ten in both 3-point and free throw shooting percentage a season ago. With our core roster essentially the same as last year, it is a big surprise that we struggled to shoot this much.<\/p>\n Early in the season, we need to be able to rely on our upperclassmen to carry the team. It typically takes freshmen some time to get comfortable, so we can\u2019t be relying on them for significant contributions every night yet. Outside of Tyson Walker<\/a>, no other upperclassmen showed up on Monday night. Without the stellar performance from Walker, James Madison likely would\u2019ve blown the Spartans out.<\/p>\n Every player\u2019s going to have their off night offensively and that\u2019s fine. But what\u2019s not fine is having an off night when it comes to leadership. Or hustle. Or making the easy plays. Those things need to happen every single night, especially from the upperclassmen.<\/p>\n In my eyes, it\u2019s really quite simple. The players having the best game should be in at the end of the game. I don\u2019t really care who starts the game, but who ends the game matters a lot. Not to pick on anyone specifically, but Malik Hall<\/a> did not have a good game. On the other hand, Coen Carr<\/a> was having a really good first game as a freshman. So why did Hall start in overtime over Carr? The same can be said for Mady Sissoko<\/a> playing over Carson Cooper<\/a>.<\/p>\n1. Awful 3-point and free throw shooting<\/h3>\n
2. Upperclassmen lacked that killer instinct<\/h3>\n
3. Tom Izzo\u2019s end-of-game lineups<\/h3>\n