BASKETBALL

Michigan State Basketball: Good, great, bad, and ugly from loss to Tennessee

What did the Spartans do well?

Published

3 years ago

October 30, 2023

Tyler Dutton

Ugly: Slow, sluggish start

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, Michigan State basketball got off to an extremely slow start on Sunday. As noted already, MSU did a great job applying pressure from the jump against Tennessee. This forced them to hit their shots from outside. And Tennessee did just that. Even though just two Volunteers essentially carried them, Dalton Knecht had 28 and Jordan Gainey had 20, the pair could not miss. Add this to the Spartan’s lackluster, careless offense to start the game, and Michigan State found themselves down incredibly bad just five minutes into the exhibition.

Turnovers, ineffectual offensive sets, and missed shots spelled a terrible, slow, sluggish start for MSU.

Even though they showed incredible poise to fight their way back, they made it extremely difficult on themselves. Their start forced an 18-point comeback midway through the first. Slow starts have plagued MSU for years now, and it was a trend I was hoping would not carry over into this new, promising season.

It’s just one game so we will give the Spartans a break. But, starting as they did Sunday afternoon will not get MSU to where they want to be this year.

Up Next

Tom Izzo leads all active head coaches in this interesting stat

Don't Miss

Michigan State basketball: Coen Carr shines in exhibition loss to Tennessee

Tyler Dutton

Writer and contributor for Spartan Shadows. Tyler Dutton, a graduate of Michigan State, is a college and professional basketball specialist with over four years of experience writing on both the Spartans and Pistons.