If one is lucky to have attended or watched enough Michigan State basketball press conferences, they are sure to have witnessed the varied emotions of head coach Tom Izzo. He can be grouchy. He can be sarcastic. He can be playful and funny, and he is always genuine and down-to-earth.

Following Monday night's shocking 79-76 overtime loss to the James Madison Dukes, Izzo's mood was something else. I could only describe it as "somber."

It was Michigan State's first loss in a home opener in the history of the Breslin Center and the first since December of 1976 against Western Michigan when Jud Heathcote was in his first year as head coach and. The Spartans played at Jenison Fieldhouse in those days and Magic Johnson was still a senior at Lansing Everett High School.

As expected, Coach Izzo started by giving credit to the visitors from Harrisonburg, Virgina.

"They came in here and outplayed us, played harder than us, played stronger than us and made some big plays," Izzo said. "They deserved to win. I told a couple of you that I was concerned about the game because of what they (James Madison) had and what they were doing. (But) I didn't think it would go like that."

Coach Izzo's focus turned quickly to try to understand why the game went off the rails for the Spartans. A glance at the box score shows that Michigan State had a terrible game shooting the basketball, going just 26-for-72 (36%) from the floor and an astounding 1-for-20 from 3-point distance (5%).

But there was one area in particular that seemed to both confuse and upset the Hall-of-Fame coach the most.

"We just missed free throw after free throw after free throw," Izzo said. "That was demoralizing in the first half."

For the game, Michigan State hit just 23-of-37 free throws (62%) and as Izzo alluded to, 10 of those misses came in the first half. The Spartans did a better job in the second half (7-for-8), but stumbled again in the overtime period (4-for-7).

Most surprising was the uncharacteristically poor free-throw shooting from starting guard Tyson Walker, who went just 11-for-17 (65%) from the line, including at least three misses on the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. Walker hit 80% of his free throws in his previous two seasons in East Lansing.

Coach Izzo, who empathizes free throw shooting to the point of obsession, was completely perplexed. He even remarked that just the night before his team as a group hit 90% of their free throws during a light practice and film session.

"I don't know what to say about the free throws," Izzo said. "I harp on it every day... It just happened."

Izzo noted that once the free throws and shots weren't dropping for one player, the misses quickly spread throughout the rest of the team.

"When you start missing shots like that, it becomes contagious," Izzo said.

Once the misses started to pile up, Coach Izzo felt that it got to a few of his players, and that for certain guys, "everything relies on their offense."

This is clearly an area where his team needs to improve if the Spartans hope to prevent a recurrence of the runaway snowball effect that happened on Monday night against the Dukes.

"(Some of) the guys were down about missing those free throw and it seemed like we got pretty stagnant offensively," Izzo said, "Then, we didn't cover very well defensively.

"We didn't do a very good job. We're supposed to be switching. A couple guys didn't do what they're supposed to do, and that's how they got a couple of those late buckets."

When it came time to talk about individual players, Coach Izzo had a very short list of people to praise. Freshman forward Coen Carr was the lone bright spot who Izzo said "played awfully well." Carr was the second-leading scorer for the Spartans with 14 points, and he had six rebounds, three of which were offensive rebounds that led directly to points.

Walker led the team with 35 points, but he needed 26 field goal attempts and 17 free throw attempts to get there. Izzo felt that Walker "didn't play very well," and that fellow upperclassmen Malik Hall, A.J. Hoggard, and Jaden Akins all "struggled." That core trio of Spartans combined scored just 17 points on 6-for-33 (19%) shooting, including a staggering 0-for-12 from deep.

Now, there are some potentially reasonable explanations for some of the issues that Michigan State experienced. Izzo commented that both Walker and Hoggard struggled with cramping throughout the evening.

There was also a total of 53 fouls called in Monday's games. This was a problem for both teams as it disrupted the rotations and caused a few players to ride the pine more than planned in the first half of the game especially.

"We never had any continuity the whole night," Izzo said.

But at the end of the day, James Madison made plays when the game was on the line and Michigan State did not. That ultimately decided the game.

"If we'd played better defensively, if we'd got those rebounds and loose balls, we didn't cut out," Izzo said. "Those are effort related things. Shooting, once in a while you're gonna shoot the ball poorly. I don't know if I've ever seen us shoot the ball that poorly ... but we'll get that part straight."

Had the Spartans been able to win more hustle plays, Izzo believes that his team would have won going away, despite the dreadful shooting numbers.

Ultimately, Izzo thinks it comes down to leadership, which the team lacks right now. This has been an area Izzo had been worried about since the preseason.

"I don't have very good leadership (right now)," Izzo said.

As the postgame press conference was nearing its end and as midnight approached in East Lansing, a media member asked Coach Izzo if Monday's loss was a "needed wake-up call" for the highly-ranked Spartans. This sparked some additional comments about his current concerns with his team and how he might address them.

"To me, wake-up calls are for programs that all of a sudden came out of the ashes," Izzo said. "When you’ve been a solid program, there should be no wake-up calls. So, I take responsibility for that. There's going to be some changes, but there's no reason for a wake-up call.

"I'm really big on giving guys a chance. But there were some things that happened over and over again."

When Izzo was pressed as to whether he was considering a change in minutes or the starting lineup, he was evasive, yet seemed to tip his hand.

"Guys aren't going to do what they're not supposed to do," he said. "I don't need guys taking shots that are not shooters. I don’t need guys dribbling that are not ball-handlers, and we've got to pay attention more to what we're saying in the huddle. If (the plan is) to switch, then we've got to switch."

Much of Izzo's criticism appeared to be focused on his veterans who he had called out earlier in the evening. As the night wore on, the heat began to increase. He even said at one point that his players are "too pampered."

"I don't have a good answer why three juniors and seniors played like they played," Izzo said. "But I also don't care because I'll play some freshmen. So let the controversy begin."

As for the path forward, it sounds like the intensity in practice is about to ratchet up significantly. When the head coach was asked about the next couple of days of practice would be like, he gave a one-word answer:

"Ugly."

Later, when Hall was asked in the locker room what Coach Izzo meant by "ugly," he gave a simple answer:

"Just a lot of banging," Hall said.

Izzo also indicated that his team would soon be getting back to practicing with more physicality.

"There is too much load management and worry about sport science and this and that," Izzo said. "That's out the door. We are just going to practice."

The Spartans will get another chance to earn their first victory of the year on Thursday as they host the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time and it can be seen on the Big Ten Network.

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