Michigan State basketball: What went wrong in loss to Purdue?

Michigan State basketball came up short on Friday afternoon against Purdue. What went wrong for the Spartans?

Michigan State basketball 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.

However, losing is never good enough this time of year, so what went wrong in the Spartans’ loss today?

Failure to make open shots

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’t good enough. Everything else was there for MSU today, they just couldn’t get their shots to fall.

And it wasn’t for a lack of good play calls either. I thought this was one of Tom Izzo’s best games all season. He ran many nice sets that gave his guys wide-open shots. MSU just couldn’t get those shots to fall. It’s one thing if Purdue had played great defense and Michigan State was missing contested shots, but that wasn’t the case. Michigan State’s lack of hitting their wide-open shots ultimately is the reason they lost this game.

Brutal eight-minute stretch

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’t enough to swing the game this much.

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.

The ref show

It’s impossible to write about what went wrong in this game without mentioning the refs. This may have been the worst game I’ve seen all season from an officials’ standpoint. Two points in this game stood out for me from the officials.

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’t MSU likely wouldn’t have been down by seven at the break.

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’t take a charge in that area. The refs didn’t review the play and MSU missed out on two free throws when the game was extremely close.

@bigten we need answers pic.twitter.com/wihqlNQF5D

— Daily MSU (@daily_msu) March 15, 2024

You’ll never see me put all the blame on the refs, that’s why I listed this point last. But when rival fanbases and national analysts say the refs were horrible, I think it’s more than fair to include this point here.

Michigan State now turns its attention to the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans will learn their fate on Sunday, but their win against Minnesota on Wednesday should be enough to get them in. This team seems to be hitting their stride in March again, so maybe we’re in for another magical run.