Michigan State basketball: 3 quick thoughts from tough loss to Arizona

Michigan State basketball was unable to hold on to a late three-point lead against No. 3 Arizona. What’d we learn?

A tale of two halves. That seems to be the theme for Michigan State basketball this year and that continued on Thursday evening as the Spartans went down by 15 points early on and then fought back to pull within 10 at halftime before taking a late three-point lead.

Leading 66-63 with a few minutes left, it felt like Michigan State had all the momentum.

But A quick 6-0 run for the Wildcats was the difference. Arizona was able to hold on 74-68.

Here are some thoughts from the tight loss in Palm Springs.

1. Rebounding killed the Spartans down the stretch

Michigan State held its own on the glass throughout most of the game, even leading on the glass 29-27 in the second half. But then Arizona closed by beating the Spartans on the glass 12-5 and winning the battle by five. Those late offensive rebounds by Arizona killed the Spartans, especially when they got crucial stops and the Wildcats got the ball back and turned it into second-chance points.

Arizona won the offensive rebound battle 12-11 and a handful of them came in the final 10 minutes to break MSU’s back.

No doubt Tom Izzo will address that moving forward. But what else can you do with rotating 7-footers in the paint?

2. Second-half guard play was fantastic

Tyson Walker obviously had a solid game again, scoring 18 points, but it was Jaden Akins and AJ Hoggard who carried the Spartans in the second half. Akins didn’t score in the first half and finished 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and Hoggard looked like 2023 NCAA Tournament AJ, finishing with 15 points and drawing a number of clutch fouls.

Let’s hope these guys can carry this over into the remainder of the schedule.

3. If this team could just play a full game

If Michigan State showed up in the first 10 minutes of the first half, there’s a good chance we’re talking about a Spartan win here. Unfortunately, the Spartans were non-existent early on and fell behind by 15 points. They were forced to climb out of yet another first-half hole and eventually took a lead in the second half, but if they had shown up early, they wouldn’t have had to worry about a furious comeback.

This was the same issue the Spartans faced against Duke which led to that loss despite a really good second half.

If this team can put a full 40 minutes together, there aren’t many teams that’ll be able to beat them.