Tom Izzo details Michigan State's issues on offense

Michigan State has had its fair share of offensive woes this season, especially as of late in the Big Ten. However, things were so confusing in the Spartan’s latest 77-61 loss to No. 1 Purdue on Sunday that it left Tom Izzo baffled.

Izzo couldn’t believe the lack of rhythm that Michigan State had in West Lafayette from what he said in his postgame press conference. When all the statistics show you had a great offensive output and yet you still lose by 16? It shows just how out of flow the Spartan offense really was.

“We shot 48% and 50% from the three and I couldn’t agree with you more (that we were never in a great rhythm). You’re right on the money. I didn’t think there was any rhythm,” said Izzo. “Jaden (Akins) did some good things. But, when it was critical, we didn’t slow it down and we didn’t get in to things. We kept the ball in the middle of the court. But we didn’t get Joey (Hauser) going, didn’t get Tyson (Walker) going very much. Those two things hurt a lot. Some of that is on us, some of it is our quarterback’s gotta know that.”

“But I would say that’s a fair criticism,” Izzo agreed. “No rhythm and yet you shoot 48% and 50? Doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Again, Michigan State did manage to shoot 23-48 from the field and 5-10 from distance. Even so, things weren’t close against the Boilermakers after the first 10 minutes of the first half. AJ Hoggard combined with Akins for 32 of their points but no other Spartan scored in double-digits.

In total, it’s now the eighth straight game where Izzo’s team finished with 70 or fewer points. It’s also the 15th game they’ve done that over their now 14-8 season overall.

Izzo’s team will have to find some form of offensive consistency down the stretch as they’re towards the back of the pack when it comes to scoring nationally. They have the pieces to do it and will now have to find a way to accomplish it over the final nine games of their regular season.