Michigan State’s comeback effort fell narrowly short inside Assembly Hall on Sunday night.

It came down to the last shot as MSU guard Tyson Walker dribbled, drove and threw up a floater that missed. The rebound was tipped away from MSU’s basket and Indiana dribbled out the clock to win on its senior night, 65-64.

“I’m upset,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said to open his postgame press conference. “I’m upset because we had a seven-point lead and we didn’t guard. But I’m also proud because of the environment, the way we came back, the way we executed, the way we shot. Finally, Tyson (Walker) started making some shots.”

It was a game that didn’t start according to plan for Izzo and his Spartans. A little over 11 minutes into the game, Indiana had a 24-7 lead. In that opening stretch, Michigan State shot 3-for-20.

“We weren’t aggressive enough offensively,” Walker said after the loss. “They came out and made shots and they played really well on defense.”

The shots were simply not falling early for Michigan State, which was a big reason why the Spartans fell well behind a hot Indiana team.

“We just casted up threes,” Izzo said about his team’s start. “We took four (3-pointers) in the first five shots. I don’t know why. And we didn’t get back. When we settled down a little bit, we were better.”

The transition game was also slow to get going in the first half. The Spartans ended the opening frame with just three fast-break points.

“On nights like this one, when you come into a hostile environment like this, and it’s someone's senior night … you've gotta be more dialed in,” MSU guard A.J. Hoggard said. “I think we kind of settled a little bit and we didn’t get out to the open runs.”

It was on the back of Walker’s offensive firepower that the Spartans made a comeback. They ended the first half on a 22-10 run to cut the deficit to just five at halftime. Walker made his last four shots of the first half.

“Tyson started to hit shots,” Michigan State forward Malik Hall said about what led to the comeback. “Then we had a little more energy on defense, got a couple stops in a row. It started clicking for us a little bit more.”

What sparked Walker’s offensive explosion was Izzo getting after him and challenging his top scorer.

“Where I’m most proud of Tyson? That was as good as I’ve got after somebody because it’s not legal anymore,” Izzo said about Walker. “But that was as good as I did and he responded. He responded with his head up and he did what he was supposed to do. I think that was really, really important.”

That Michigan State rally carried over after the halftime break. The Spartans went on a 22-2 run to take a seven-point lead at the 15:23-mark of the second half.

“We got stops and then we made shots,” Walker said about what led to the comeback. “We got to the basket. We didn’t get to the basket, we weren’t moving the ball in the beginning. Just kind of one pass and then shooting threes.”

Michigan State’s lead went up to seven points on two separate occasions. However, Indiana, led by bigs Kel’el Ware, Malik Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako, kept fighting.

Ware, Reneau and Mgbako combined for 57 of Indiana’s 65 points. They were a load for Michigan State’s bigs to handle.

“I think the challenge was more so they could just get it to either one of them,” Hall said about Indiana’s bigs. “And either one of them was gonna make a shot or they were gonna get a foul call. I think that was difficult for us.”

Walker ended the game as Michigan State’s leading scorer with 30 points. Jaden Akins (10 points) and Hoggard (10 points) were the other two Spartans that ended the game in double figures. While Akins scored 10 points, his consistency is still something that needs to be established.

“When Jaden plays, he’s a very good player,” Izzo said about Akins. “He went up and got some rebounds and tipped some and it was unbelievable. And there was times when it was just not good enough.”

Up next for the Spartans is the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis. Michigan State will be the No. 8 seed and will play its opening round game on Thursday, March 14 at noon Eastern Time on Big Ten Network.

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