NEW YORK — Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo glanced at the stat sheet and shredded it in his hands.
It was not smashing a game tape with a sledgehammer. This was a result of poor lighting and tiny type on the page. But his frustration and fury in the bowels of Madison Square Garden showed with each tear.
The strips of paper told only some of the story from Tuesday night’s Champions Classic marquee game.
The 23 fouls. The 21 missed 3-pointers. The 16 turnovers that led to 21 points the other way.
The final score: No. 2 Kentucky 69, No. 1 Michigan State 62.
Enough Izzo admitted, “I’m not in a good mood.”
“No. 1 on the list is me and my staff gotta do a much better job,” Izzo said. “There were a lot of plays that we screwed up, one guy screwed them up — that’s our fault. So before I say anything else about the players, me and my staff better improve a lot within the next week. There are gonna be some long nights in that building.”
OPINION: Michigan State wasn't worthy of No. 1 ranking. Not yet, anyway
MSU entered as the preseason favorite to win the national title, both by the pollsters and Las Vegas oddsmakers. Kentucky came in a little older than in past years, but with its annual haul of 5-star freshmen.
And one of them, freshman guard Tyrese Maxey, outplayed reigning Big Ten player of the year and preseason consensus All-American Cassius Winston in a game the Spartans led for just 38 seconds — by two points.
It was Maxey’s deep 3-pointer over Aaron Henry with a minute remaining in the game that put MSU away for good. Kyle Ahrens missed a good look from behind the arc for the Spartans on the ensuing possession, a theme throughout the night. They went just 5 of 26 from 3-point range.
“I gotta hit some more shots,” said Winston, who went 1 of 7 from deep. “I had some open looks that I need to knock down.”
There were spurts when the Wildcats looked ready to put away MSU, particularly in the first half when all five starters and reserve Malik Hall went to the bench in foul trouble. Twice Kentucky built 11-point leads, going into halftime up 34-24, but then the Spartans would muster the moxie they showed last season, in large part because of the poise and persistence of Winston.
The senior finished with 21 points on 5 of 12 shooting, despite playing with four fouls down the stretch and wearing down from the physical, long-armed Wildcat defenders.
MSU committed 23 fouls in the game. Kentucky finished 25 of 32 from the free-throw line. Maxey led Kentucky with 26 points on 7 of 12 shooting, and the 6-3 rookie guard went 9 of 10 at the line.
“We just had a lot of stupid mistakes,” said junior Xavier Tillman, who had seven points and nine rebounds. “Our foul trouble is really what hurt us. When we started coming back, we stopped fouling, we just let them miss shots. And that was big for us the whole game, not just the first half.”
The loss means the Spartans’ reign at the top, at least to start the season, likely will be over next Monday. Kentucky is all but assured to leap them. Still, Winston believes they showed they belonged.
“If that’s the best team in the country, we’re right there,” Winston said. “When we’re playing hard, when we’re making plays and knocking down a couple more shots, we might be having a different conversation right now. We got all the pieces we need, we got everything we need, we just gotta get better on the little things.”
His coach was not ready to say that just yet.
“We’re the No. 1 team in the country. Or we were,” Izzo said of Winston’s comment. “If he thinks we played good because of that, we were the No. 1 team. We didn’t play like one. They did play more up to that level. We didn’t play to that level.
“I think he thinks we’re right there. We ARE right there. There are four good teams today. None of those teams are ready for February or March. It is a very difficult thing to play that kind of competition this early. But it’ll benefit all of us.”
Contact Chris Solari at csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state/spartans/2019/11/06/michigan-state-basketball-kentucky-analysis/4175626002/
2019-11-06 12:34:00Z
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