Well, all that momentum Spartan fans were feeling following an intense win against rival Michigan evaporated Tuesday night in a deflating loss.

MSU dropped its first home game since December 5th, this go around to an Iowa team on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble looking in, 78-71.

Payton Sandfort, Ben Krikke, and Patrick McCafery proved to be too much for MSU, combining for 54 of Iowa’s 78 points Tuesday night.

MSU struggled to get inside and were outscored in the paint 40-28; the Spartans had to find scoring from the perimeter, where they went 10-20 from three.

“I never flush a game, never ever,” Izzo said when asked if he can wipe games like this from memory. “I didn’t flush last year's loss. I’ve never flushed a loss. I’ve flushed some wins."

He went on to add that he’d labor over this game tape tomorrow, and figure out what happened.

“That falls on me, I have to be better,” Izzo said in regard to adjustments made versus Iowa, or the lack thereof.

This game had Izzo, players, and fans uneasy. On paper this wasn't a disastrous performance, shooting 10-20 from three, and a decent 45% from the field. The core players - Malik Hall, AJ Hoggard, and Tyson Walker - each put up 15-16 points, and the turnovers were relatively low at eight.

But a refined eye can catch something mere mortals let slide by. It’s difficult to spot, but if you watch the game closely, or even look at the (often misleading) stat sheet, you'll notice something. Three players make up over 35 minutes at the center position.

Here are their combined stats: five points on 1-5 shooting and nine rebounds.

Underwhelming?

Here’s what Tom had to say about the other options available - Xavier Booker and Coen Carr.

“I mean the bully ball they played, that's where his (Booker) strength isn’t there, and then we tried to put him on a perimeter guy and you know — I'm not disappointed in Booker," said Izzo. "Just gotta find the right matchups for him and Coen, because they (Iowa) played so much zone, it just wasn't the time. But both those guys are making progress.”

So, Booker is not ready to play because of his post defense and strength. Those 35 minutes at the center position, while underperforming on offense, must at least have stiffled the Iowa post game, and interior offense?

Right?

I’ll refer back to Izzo.

”I don't know, I got to watch the film first, but boy, some of those layups, I think they had 13 layups, three dunks," Izzo said as he went on to poke some fun at his alma mater. “I don't think we’d beat Northern Michigan if they had 16 layups, you know, give them credit.”

I think its fair to say Tom is as frustrated as MSU fans that, with less than two weeks until tournament season begins, MSU has made practically no strides in finding the center that should play primary minutes for this team.

Tom also hinted that Mady Sissoko should play more, and that maybe outside noise kept him gun shy from going with his gut.

“But the other day (talking with the media) we talked about Mady and you know, the one thing Mady’s been able to do is defend and rebound," said Izzo. "So, you know, I got to make sure I don't listen to people, and I do what I want to do. I probably should have gone back in with Mady a little bit. “

You can tell Spartan fans have their preferred candidate if you browse through the quoted tweets here:

While Izzo still searches for a consistent “coach on the court,” a leader has emerged in the locker room in Davis Smith, cited by coaches and teammates as important a voice as any.

Izzo said Davis had sniffed out that MSU’s energy was off.

”You know Davis Smith again, you know, he read it, right," Izzo said. “He (Smith) said he didn't like the vibes and we came in after warmups and he spoke very strongly about it and he said to me on the bench at halftime, but you can't keep pushing people anymore. So you just hope that they (the players) see it and we'll show it to them on film.”

Where should the blame go?

"We gotta do a better job as a staff," Izzo said. "So that falls on me.”

This phrasing has become popular with Izzo, taking the blame, but often tongue in cheek, where he hints of missing the days where he could “coach how he wants to."

"As a coach you have to be a positive reinforcement, especially this day and age," Izzo said. "It used to be about 40/60 positive to negative, now its about 90/10.”

The author of this article is no mind reader, but it seems as if Izzo spoke to the media the way he wants to, he’d confess that in a lot of ways his unique style of coaching - lets call it “tough love” - was his fastball. And at times he may not know how to most effectively reach these players in the era of the “90/10” ratio of positive reinforcement.

We shall see.

This season can still be very special for MSU, but the clock is ticking on this team hitting its stride, and on Spartan fans' patience, on the brink of a fourth consecutive failure of a season.

Undoubtedly a victim of his own success, this next month is as big as any in Tom Izzo’s late career.

MSU hosts an Ohio State team who just beat No. 2 Purdue this past Sunday.

The Buckeyes are led by the hard-nosed sophomore Bruce Thornton, averaging 16.1 points per game.

MSU vs Ohio State will tip-off at 4:00pm Sunday on CBS.

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