The road is a tough place in the Big Ten this year, and the Michigan State Spartans learned another tough lesson in Madison, with an 81-66 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers.

At times, it seemed like the Badgers could not miss on even closely-guarded shots, while the Spartans missed at point-blank range.

Wisconsin shot over 50% from the field (29-for-57) and hit nine 3-pointers, while the Spartans shot just 25-for-60 (42%). The situation was even worse than those numbers may imply. With eight minutes left to play in the game, Wisconsin held an 18-point lead and was shooting over 57% from the field.

Similar to the first matchup with Wisconsin back in December, the Spartans had trouble keeping the Badgers off the glass. Michigan State gave up 17 second-chance points off of 12 offensive rebounds. Wisconsin out-rebounded Michigan State by a total tally of 25 to 25 on the night.

A.J. Hoggard scored a season-high 19 points and Malik Hall contributed 13 points and two rebounds. Tyson Walker (11) and Jaden Akins (10) also both scored in double figures.

The rest of the Michigan State roster struggled, with Tre Holloman, Carson Copper and Coen Carr all failing to score. Mady Sissoko led the Green and White with seven rebounds and scored two points on a dunk.

The Spartans started the game very cold from the field, hitting just one of their first eight shots on a transition layup from Hall. In contrast, Wisconsin was red hot, hitting eight of the team's first 11 shots.

Eight minutes into the game, Wisconsin enjoyed a nine-point lead, 20-11. The Spartans went on a small run, thanks in part to back-to-back triples from Hall and Hoggard. But with just over eight minutes to play, Hall picked up his second foul when he failed to box out a Wisconsin shooter and fouled because he was out of position.

The result of the play was an eventual four-point possession for the Badgers as a missed free throw was rebounded by the home team.

Despite playing only 11 minutes in the first half, Hall led the Spartans in scoring in the first stanza with nine points. With Hall on the bench, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo opted to go with a big lineup, using either Cooper or Jaxon Kohler at the four (power forward) position. Wisconsin was able to push the lead to double-digits against this lineup.

Michigan State gave up nine second-chance points on six Wisconsin offensive rebounds in the first half. The Spartans also struggled to defend the Badgers' post offense, giving up several layups at the rim.

At halftime, Akin and Hoggard had nine points and eight points, respectively, but Walker struggled from the field, hitting only 2-of-7 shots, and not getting off any 3-point shots at all.

Wisconsin led the game 43-34 at the break.

The Spartans started the second half with better energy, but Wisconsin continued to scorch the nets. Despite a few loud plays, such as a put-back dunk from Hall off a missed free throw from Akins, Michigan State still trailed by nine points with 15:00 to play.

Wisconsin proceeded to go on a 15-5 run to extend the lead to 19 points over the next five minutes and the Spartans seemed to lose some focus.

While the Badgers finally went cold in the final eight minutes of the game, Michigan State never closed to deficit to under 12 points.

Kohler saw the floor for a season-high 14 minutes and scored a season-high six points on several crafty post moves. As Kohler continues to recover from the early season foot injury, he appears increasingly ready to contribute to the post offense.

Freshman big man Xavier Booker also scored five points, including a made 3-pointer in late-game action when the contest was already in hand for the home team.

The loss drops Michigan State to 12-8 overall and 4-5 in Big Ten play on the 2023-2024 season, but six of the Spartans' toughest eight conference games are already in the books.

Wisconsin improved to 16-4 overall and will remain atop the Big Ten standings with an 8-1 record in conference play.

The Spartans will attempt to once again get back to .500 in conference play as archrival Michigan comes to Breslin Center on Tuesday, Jan. 30. The game tips off at 9 p.m. and can be viewed on Peacock.

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