Michigan State hosted No. 23 Wisconsin Tuesday night for early Big Ten action in the conference season opener, but couldn't find the offense for a victory. The Spartans fell to 4-4 on the year and 0-1 in Big Ten action in a 70-57 defeat.
Despite 22 points from Tyson Walker, only A.J. Hoggard was able to score more than five on the night, hitting double figures with 14 points and the team high seven assists. Walker led the team in steals with two.
Carson Cooper was the leading rebounder in a lackluster rebounding night, grabbing seven of the team's 22 total. That is compared to Wisconsin's 36, and defensively the Badgers grabbed 25 alone, besting the Spartans total count.
Wisconsin's AJ Storr matched Walker for the game high of 22 points, while Steven Crowl added 18 and John Blackwell scored 10 for Badgers in double figures.
The Spartans suffered yet another slow start offensively in the first half. After Mady Sissoko managed to slam down a second-chance dunk on a missed 3-pointer by Walker to start things out for the green and white, MSU would go scoreless for almost five minutes. Jeremy Fears, Jr. finally ended the drought at the 13:32 mark as MSU went just 1-for-7 from the field before his layup. Wisconsin used the poor shooting to jump out to a 11-2 lead.
Michigan State made a mini 6-2 run sparked by Fears bucket to cut Wisconsin's lead to just five. The Badgers dug in and pushed their lead to double digits for the first time on the night with a 7-0 run of their own.
With a 12-point lead and 10:30 remaining in the first half, MSU was unable to made any headway for the remaining time left before halftime. Whenever the Spartans started to trim it back to single digits, the Badgers responded to keep it from getting close. MSU kept Wisconsin from running away with it, and again trimmed it to just five with 2:26 remaining, but the Badgers closed it out with two 3-pointers to cap off scoring in the half.
Michigan State ended the half just 1-for-7 from 3-point range and shooting a paltry 43.5% from the field. Wisconsin was not significantly better from the field, shooting just 48.1%, but the Badgers hit 6-for-13 from deep.
After Wisconsin managed to open its lead up to 13 points in the first two minutes of the second half, MSU was able to respond.
The Spartans trimmed it back to single digits with the one-two punch of Walker and Hoggard on back-to-back offensive possessions. Coen Carr's big block also led to a trey by Hoggard on the back side of that series.
The Spartans were also able to overcome an attempted rally by the Badgers coming off the swing by their two guards, and MSU trimmed it to within just three with 12:55 remaining. Back-to-back 3-points by Walker had it 49-46.
That was as close as it got for the night. Wisconsin responded with a dunk by Wahl, but Hoggard hit a pair of free throws to cut it right back at 51-48 with 11:21 left. The Badgers used a 15-4 run to all but finish off the night with a victory despite 2:54 remaining after Crowl's 3-pointer capped the run for the visitors.
Despite not hitting a field goal for the remainder of the game, Wisconsin was able to ride out the road win in East Lansing as MSU resorted to fouling and was unable to hit enough shots down the stretch.
Michigan State was pretty much dominated in many of the facets of the game strong Spartan teams are known for against Wisconsin. The Badgers shooting was lackluster, but Wisconsin managed 19 second chance points thanks to its strong rebounding and scored 15 points off eight turnovers by MSU.
Michigan State will look to move past its opening loss in conference action when it visits Lincoln Sunday night. Start time against Nebraska (7-1, 0-0) is set for 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the Big Ten Network. A return visit in the next calendar year also looms against the Badgers in Madison on Jan. 26.
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