Rehash&Analysis: Michigan State lets major opportunity, and 9-point lead, get away in crushing loss at Minnesota

Michigan State let a 9-point second half lead, and a great opportunity to pad its NCAA Tournament resumé, get away in surrendering a painful 59-56 decision to Minnesota on Tuesday night at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

“That was a shame because most of that game we played pretty damn good,” said Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. “We made some mistakes, and every mistake kind of hurt us.”

Trailing by 3 with :20 seconds left, Michigan State point guard AJ Hoggard was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. Hoggard, who has had trouble icing games at the foul line earlier in his career, made two of the three foul shots, and the game essentially was lost at that moment.

After the miss, Hoggard stood at the foul line and sneered at the rim in disappointment.

Michigan State center Carson Cooper, playing crunch time minutes for the second straight game, fouled Minnesota sharp shooter Cam Christie, who rebounded the missed foul shot. Izzo had instructed the Spartans that Christie was the player to avoid fouling if the situation arose. But Izzo was bothered by a lot of decisions during crucial moments of this game.

“I’m really disappointed in our leadership, disappointed in my team and disappointed in my seniors,” Izzo said. “We missed a lot of free throws. We took some bad shots when we were up 10 (actually nine). We took bad shots, bad shots, bad shots and didn’t check. So we took bad shots and they went down and they made threes. Guys can’t be taking bad shots.”

Christie made both free throws to give Minnesota a 57-54 lead.

Michigan State then opted to drive for a 2-pointer with :12 seconds left rather than try to work free for a 3-pointer. Hoggard missed a runner in the lane over the help defense from Minnesota center Pharrel Payne. Hoggard then attempted to tip the rebound out to a teammate, but instead tipped it out of bounds with :07 seconds left.

From there, Minnesota guard Elijah Hawkins hit two free throws to ice the game.

Michigan State’s Tyson Walker then drove the length of the court for a lay-up with 1.7 seconds left which cut the lead to 59-56. 

Michigan State might have had a chance to foul on the in-bound, hope for a missed free throw and a 90-foot prayer, but opted to let the final 1.7 seconds expire without a challenge.

“I’m disappointed, I’m upset and I didn’t like the way we played and I guess I didn’t like the way I coached,” Izzo said. “I had one guy that took three (bad shots) in a row, and that wasn’t good. You can’t go what we went (7-of-17) from the free throw line. Malik has been a dynamite free throw shooter. When you go 7-for-17 from the free throw line and you lose by a couple, that’s a killer. 

“Shot selection, poor shots, taking shots because we haven’t had a shot, and then not guarding. We gave up a couple of 3s that were just ridiculous.

“If you look at it defensively, we did all the things we wanted to do. They hit a couple of big shots. Garcia has not been shooting well from 3; he goes 2-for-4. But the big killer was Christie goes 5-for-7 and we gave him a bunch of them because we didn’t get back, we didn’t do our job defensively and we had a couple of guys that just did not play very well.”

WHAT IT MEANS

Michigan State falls to 14-9 overall and 6-6 in the Big Ten. A victory would have put the Spartans in great shape to improve its NCAA Tournament seeding. But now, the loss knocks Michigan State back in the direction of the NCAA Tournament bubble, and in danger of falling below .500 in conference play with a visit from No. 9 Illinois pending on Saturday.

Minnesota’s NCAA Tournament hopes received a huge push with the victory, improving to 14-8 and 6-5 in the Big Ten, leapfrogging Michigan State in the Big Ten standings.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Michigan State went 7-of-17 from the foul line, including a pair of crushing 0-for-2 trips by Malik Hall and Carson Cooper in the final 5:35.

Senior guard Tyson Walker led Michigan State with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting. 

Walker missed four minutes with what appeared to be an aggravated groin issue midway through the second half. During his absence, Minnesota started its comebacker.

Jaden Akins scored 16 points and was MSU’s most efficient player. He went 6-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. 

No other Spartans scored more than six points, with Hall scoring six on 2-of-4 shooting. Hall was 1-of-6 from the foul line and had four rebounds in 33 minutes.

Hoggard scored four points on 1-of-6 shooting. He had five assists and one turnover.

Mady Sissoko led Michigan State with six rebounds. He had two points in 19 minutes. 

Michigan State dominated the glass in the early going, but the Gophers out-rebounded Michigan State 19-12 in the second half and 31-28 for the game. 

Cam Christie, the freshman brother of former Michigan State guard Max Christie, scored 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half. He was 5-of-8 from the field including 5-of-7 from 3 point range.

Izzo was irate with Spartan defenders losing contact with Christie for some of his 3-pointers. 

TURNING POINT

Michigan State had just notched at 45-36 with 13:16 left when Tre Holloman hit a floater and capped a 6-0 run.

Moments later, with 12:47 left, Walker clutched the inside of his left thigh while scrambling for a loose ball. He was helped off the floor and to the Spartan locker room.

With Walker off the court, Minnesota scored seven straight points. Then when Walker returned, Gopher point guard Hawkins went around him for a lay-up, and on the next possession Minnesota completed the 10-0 run with a free throw from Pharrel. 

The Spartans’ momentum was gone, and Walker’s wheels were questionable the rest of the way, as was Spartan decision-making.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Michigan State regained the lead at 47-46 when Walker hit a 19-footer with 6:41 left. 

After Hall missed two foul  shots with 5:35 remaining, Akins hit a 3-pointer from the right wing off of high screen aactdion and then extra passes from Hall and Holloman in deferring to Akins. That gave Michigan State a 50-48 lead with 4:50 left. 

Then, with a chance to give Michigan State a four-point lead, Cooper missed a pair of free throws with 4:12 left. After those misses, Walker lost Christie in transition. Christie hoisted a 3-pointer from the right wing as Minnesota regained the lead 51-50.

Michigan State regained the lead at 52-51 with 2:48 left when Walker scored on a driving lay-up off a blur screen. But the Spartans went dry for the remainder of the game.

Walker missed a step-back 3-pointer from the left wing with the shot clock about to expire with 1:55 left.

Then, in the pivotal play of the game, Minnesota power forward Dawson Garcia, a 25 percent 3-point shooter, nailed a critical 3-pointer over Hall to give the Gophers a 55-52 lead with 1:22 left. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Trailing by 3 with just over a minute left, Michigan State ran floppy action for Akins and Walker popping out on opposite wings. Those down-screens didn’t provide any openings.

Then Walker attempted to work free off a high ball screen. Minnesota sent a double-team at Walker 25 feet from the rim. Walker reversed the ball to a wide open Hall with :10 seconds left on the shot clock.

Hall missed an open 3-pointer from the left wing, unable to answer the critical triple that Garcia had nailed moments earlier. 

But Michigan State wasn’t done. The Spartans held firm on defense as Minnesota’s Braeden Carrington missed a jumper with :30 seconds left and Hoggard grabbed the defense rebound. 

With Hoggard and Walker exchanging the ball and less than :25 seconds remaining, Hoggard was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer from the left wing.

Hoggard made the first two foul shots, but missed the third, as the Spartans’ chances of leaving Minneapolis with a huge Big Ten road win fizzed.

THE FIRST HALF

Michigan State’s field goal percentage (57.1), 3-point shooting (5-of-8, 62.5 percent) and defensive rebounding (16 d-boards while allowing only three offensive rebounds on 27 missed Gopher shots) were excellent in the first half.

However, Michigan State’s lead was only five (32-27) at intermission. Michigan State missed five free throws (3-of-8 from the line) and had seven turnovers (compared to five for the Gophers), two negatives which helped keep the Gophers within single digits.

Michigan State used an 11-2 run to turn a 20-13 deficit into a 24-22 lead with 3:53 left in the first half. 

Walker triggered the 11-2 run with a steal and pull-up, fastbreak 3-pointer. 

Next possession, Walker hit a 16-footer on a baseline in-bound play, thanks to a downscreen from Mady Sissoko and an assist from Xavier Booker. 

Booker played three minutes in the first half, staying on the court for extended time after a TV time out. Booker provided the most encouraging, productive shift of his young college career. He wasn’t spectacular, but he was solid – and that’s great progress from him. However, he did not play in the second half, a decision that this reporter can’t argue with considering the tightness of the game and Booker’s inability to totally gain trust to this point.

In addition to assisting on the Walker shot, , he also got to the foul line on a side ball screen and roll. He hit both foul shots to cut Minnesota’s lead to 22-20. He was on the court for much of the 11-2 run. 

Akins hit two big 3-pointers in the first half. The first, off a side ball screen and extra-pass rotation, gave Michigan State a 27-24 lead. Then he nailed another one on screen-roll-replace to give Michigan State a 30-27 lead with 1:05 left in the first half.