Jaden Akins shares key issues with Michigan State's defense

The 2023 Big Ten Tournament was a disappointing one for Michigan State, as the Spartans came to Chicago and got ousted in their first game by a surging Ohio State squad. Sophomore guard Jaden Akins explained after a 68-58 loss that the Spartans failed to contain the Buckeyes off the dribble.

By letting Ohio State beat defenders on drives, help defense left shooters open. That, coupled with some poor rotations from Michigan State defenders doomed the Spartans, according to Akins.

I really would just say we were kind of giving up too many driving lanes, and we were getting put in tough situations because they were confident from three today. So you kind of didn’t know if you wanted to help or try to stop the ball when they were driving,” Akins said. “That led to rotations and led to them making shots.”

Against Michigan State, Ohio State shot 52.6% from 3, making five shots from deep in each half. And while the Spartans defense struggle, the offense couldn’t keep pace, going ice cold from deep and shooting a paltry 18.8% from 3.

Joey Hauser blunt about Michigan State’s frustrations with Ohio State loss

Although Michigan State is preparing for the NCAA Tournament, it’s safe to say the Spartans expected their conference tournament experience to be different. They lost their quarterfinal matchup to Ohio State, meaning they’ll be an at-large team in the big dance.

But that doesn’t mean they’re satisfied, based on Joey Hauser’s postgame comments.

“We’re not happy with it,” Hauser said. “We came here to win a championship, and it felt like a letdown today. Give them credit, they played really well. But we’ve got to turn around and focus our efforts on the NCAA Tournament because it’s one-and-done for real, then, that time. We’ve got to get it figured out and just change a little bit of what we need to change here and get it locked in.”

Michigan State went just 3-for-16 from the three-point line as Ohio State won the game 68-58 to make the conference tournament semifinals. The Buckeyes found plenty of success from three-point distance, making 10 of their 19 attempts from downtown despite losing leading scorer Brice Sensabaugh, who has now been ruled out for the year.

Michigan State will now await its fate on Selection Sunday.