Michigan State basketball: Loss to Wisconsin felt conclusive

After watching Michigan State basketball lifelessly fall to Wisconsin, it seems pretty clear that this isn’t a good team.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Up until this point in the Michigan State basketball season, there had been plenty of worrisome smoke. After Tuesday night’s 70-57 home loss to Wisconsin, the Spartans are left looking at a season that is smoldering before their eyes.

There was a finality to this loss. Confirmation that nothing up until this point was a fluke. This is the team we’ve got with 20-some games left to play.

It was mildly concerning when Tennessee punched the Spartans in the mouth. But that was an exhibition, so we wrote it off. It was annoying when James Madison came into Breslin Center and pulled the upset. It was frustrating to see second-half comebacks against Duke and Arizona come up short. But hey, it’s only November, right? They’ll snap out of it.

Wrong.

Wisconsin strolled into East Lansing on Tuesday night and beat the Spartans at their own game. The Badgers got to every loose ball. They dominated on the glass. And they gladly took part in what is now a nightly tradition of jumping on MSU early.

If you were holding out hope that some of these issues would correct themselves, Tuesday felt like an assurance that they won’t. The shooting is abysmal. The offense doesn’t create easy shots. The defensive rebounding remains a liability. There is no offensive scoring threat in the post. They don’t get to the free throw line. And you can really only count on one Spartan to show up night in and night out.

The worst part? It feels like things are actually getting worse. Jaden Akins played just 21 minutes on Tuesday and registered as many fouls as points. A.J. Hoggard continues to take (and miss) jump shots. And on a night when Malik Hall was bothered by the flu, Xavier Booker didn’t play a second.

MSU’s offensive efficiency ranking fell to 69th after this loss according to KenPom. That’s with get-right games at home against Southern Indiana, Alcorn State, and Georgia Southern. How bad could this get once conference play starts and there are no breaks?

Far less talented Michigan State basketball teams have found their footing and improved during the season. We’re still early enough in this thing to where things could, theoretically, turn around.

But it’s time to seriously adjust expectations. Forget the Final Four. Forget the Big Ten Championship. Heck, forget making the NCAA tournament. How about beating a real team?

We are a month into the season, and Michigan State has exactly zero wins that will help them on Selection Sunday. Teams around the country are putting wins in their back pocket to store for later. The Spartans have wasted their chances.

Lucky for them, there remain plenty more. But this team doesn’t look capable of beating anyone right now. They look as lost, frustrated, and at times, disinterested as the fanbase during football season.

Nothing feels right with this team. The lineups don’t fit together. The substitutions are inconsistent and erratic. Their confidence is shot. Tom Izzo can’t even settle on a starting lineup. Whether the chemistry is off, or whether certain players are more injured than we’re being told, something is up.

Whatever the case is, the reality facing Michigan State basketball is that it just isn’t very good right now. The Spartans are 4-4 and would be 4-5 if the Tennessee exhibition had counted. They will most likely be underdogs on Sunday at Nebraska. Unthinkable.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Everything has to be on the table for Tom Izzo. Players-only meeting. Locking them out of the locker room. Practicing without a ball. Or maybe they shouldn’t practice at all. Take a few days off. It can’t be worse than what we saw on Tuesday night.