Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast: Reason to Panic Over Spartans' Loss?
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00:00It is time once again for Going Green from the Michigan State Spartans Insider podcast
00:19here on the Fans First Sports Network and Michigan State Spartans on SI featuring the
00:24works of Aiden Champion, beat writer for the Michigan State Spartans Insider here.
00:30Aiden Champion, how are you, my friend?
00:32I'm doing great, Brian.
00:33How about yourself?
00:34Great.
00:35And I did not mention that.
00:36You did.
00:37My name is Brian Anthony Davis.
00:38I am so glad to be here again.
00:42I wish we were talking about a 14th straight win, but we are not as the Michigan State
00:49Spartans went out West and they struggled mightily against unranked USC and their streak
00:56is over and they stay out in California.
00:59Aiden, what did you notice from that loss?
01:02Well, first off, it was rather shocking.
01:05I mean, I had, you know, thought going into this one that if you're going to split this
01:12West Coast trip, it was probably the loss was probably going to come against UCLA.
01:18And now the pressure is on, of course, to win that one.
01:21But, you know, USC not having a great season in their first year in the Big Ten.
01:30We knew, you know, nonetheless, that would be tough going out West.
01:33But what I saw was I think USC figured out something that a lot of teams haven't with
01:42Michigan State.
01:44You know, Eric Musselman said this after after the game when he was doing his postgame with
01:50NBC, you know, he said they they took an approach that he called paintball, where they
01:57kind of compressed the lane, took away Michigan State's ability to drive because that's
02:06where they really excel is in the paint.
02:10And so, you know, they're also the worst three point shooting team in the Big Ten.
02:15So they're kind of forcing them to shoot outside the paint.
02:18And it proved effective.
02:21Michigan State, you know, has been getting away with not being able to shoot so well
02:25from deep. And it finally caught up to them.
02:27We kind of figured that would happen eventually.
02:31I didn't think it happened against USC.
02:33I thought we'd, you know, see their weaknesses be exposed more down the line this month.
02:39But, you know, credit to USC for figuring that out, held the Spartans 64 points, their
02:46second lowest mark of the year.
02:50The last one, of course, was or the the lowest was against Memphis.
02:57Their their only well, their their previous loss from November.
03:05And of course, you know, their only other loss before that was Kansas.
03:11But in that Memphis game, they scored 63.
03:14So you're seeing that when this team's not scoring, I mean, they're they're not going to
03:20win. It's going to at least be tough to win.
03:23So this team's offense really needs to thrive.
03:27I mean, we give them a lot of credit for their defense, but that's where offense needs to
03:31come into play. And like I said, you know, hats off to USC for being able to stump them.
03:38Well, let's take a look at the leaders here.
03:41Only two players in double figures in points.
03:45That was Jaden Aikens with 11 and Jeremy Fears with 12.
03:49So guard play, they were doing well there, but the assists only had eight combined between
03:56the two of them.
03:57As far as everybody else, Holloman six, Zapala three, Jackson Kohler two.
04:04If you look at the bench, Cohen Carr had nine.
04:08Frankie Fidler had five and Jace Richardson had eight.
04:12So not a lot of scoring.
04:15What went wrong here?
04:16Because it looks like some weaknesses were exposed.
04:20Well, they got down early, you know, six nothing.
04:24And then that grew to 13-4 and, you know, they battled back, made it a three point game
04:31at half. You know, USC just kept pulling away and pulling away.
04:37And, you know, Michigan State would battle back.
04:39I think probably another thing that this game really came down to, surprisingly, was
04:48Michigan State's inability to finish.
04:50I mean, this is a team that we've been praising all year for how they how well they've been
04:54able to finish down the stretch in these close games.
04:58This, you know, we're always saying this game's one they would have lost last year.
05:03Well, this one, you know, looked like one of those games last year that they, you know,
05:09would have lost on the stretch.
05:13And, you know, there was that shot clock violation by Aikens not saying, you know, it all
05:19came down to that, but that was a crucial possession when they're down five in the final
05:22minute. Surprising, you know, from the veteran, not just a veteran, but a guy who's been on
05:30the team the longest to make that that crucial error.
05:34But again, it wasn't that's not only what it came down to.
05:39I mean, they just down the stretch, they couldn't they couldn't climb back.
05:47And I think it came down more so to, you know, UCLA or USC's play.
05:56But there were there were issues with the Spartans as well.
06:00I mean, they ended up with 13 turnovers.
06:03That's, you know, that's hardly ever going to get the job done.
06:08What really made the difference, though, was the charity stripe, eight missed free throws,
06:1411 for for 19 at the line.
06:17And then a game where, you know, came down to two possessions that makes the difference.
06:22So that was very surprising to see.
06:27And that, you know, ultimately bit them in the butt, especially in a game where you're you
06:33only lose by six.
06:34So with that being said, yeah.
06:37Do fans have reason to be concerned here?
06:39Because I I know this is a disconcerting.
06:43This is the first time they've lost in the year 2025.
06:47And this was a very hot team.
06:50So all of a sudden, do fans say, oh, we've been exposed?
06:54Or is this just one of those bumps in the road?
06:58Well, you can kind of look at it both ways.
07:03Yeah, you can one, you can look at it like, yeah, they, you know, it's just one bump in the road, like you said.
07:10But at the same time, like I said earlier, I think USC might have exposed something with Michigan State, making them, you know, a team so reliant on the paint, kind of cutting off that part of their game.
07:29If you know, it really depends if teams start to follow suit, start to play off that, you know, that might pose trouble for Michigan State down the road.
07:38But the other the other thing is, you know, sometimes with teams that are on such hot streaks and are playing so well, the second they hit adversity, sometimes it messes with them.
07:50I mean, you saw with UCLA when they were riding high for so long, and then the second that they they lost to Nebraska in an upset, things just went off the rails, lost three more after that.
08:07But they've, you know, obviously found their way back.
08:09They've won five straight. But sometimes, you know, that just that messes with you.
08:14But I have faith that this team can handle adversity.
08:18Well, you know, what's crucial, though, is that they just got to continue to play their game.
08:27But it will be interesting to see, nonetheless, if, you know, a team that's so young, see how they respond to this.
08:38That that was kind of what I thought would be a major concern throughout this win streak was the second they lose.
08:46You know, you don't know how the same you know what's going to happen with this, but they got a big opportunity to make up for it.
08:56On Tuesday with UCLA, that would be a huge win.
09:00UCLA, I would think, will be ranked this week.
09:05We'll see. But, you know, this would be a big momentum boost, still able to split the West Coast trip and then go back home saying you at least stole one.
09:18All right. We will talk more about that UCLA game on Going Green on Tuesday's episode of the show.
09:25And that game is on Tuesday. So make sure you check that out here on the Michigan State Spartans Insider podcast and the Michigan State Spartans on SI.
09:35One final thing. You've got coach Tom Izzo. What's his message to this team?
09:40If well, I'll say if if I'm Tom Izzo, you know, I'm saying just, you know, learn from this, learn from what you did wrong and don't put yourself in a position again where you got to battle back because, you know, this team had a very good chance to overcome the deficit they found themselves in.
10:08And if they had just played how how well they did in the stretches, they did play well, I mean, it could have been a completely different outcome.
10:15So that's where you got to really start off strong.
10:19So that's what I'm saying to the players is you got to come out and we got to we got to fight as hard in the first three minutes as we do if we're down 10 and and fighting to stay above water.
10:34So absolutely.
10:35Well, it is going to be exciting to watch the UCLA game.
10:40And this is a team that has been coming on strong as of late.
10:44I believe they've won five straight after that.
10:47Those four straight losses in the Big Ten.
10:50So we will check out the Bruins game as the Spartans stay out West and look to salvage this two game series.
10:57It's very crucial as Tom Izzo.
11:00I know Tom Izzo is not going for it, but Tom Izzo has an opportunity to tie that Big Ten wins record.
11:07That's Bobby Knight all time with a win over UCLA.
11:11So we will have everything you need here to follow your you, excuse me, your Michigan State University Spartans.
11:19So stick right here with the Michigan State Spartans on SI and the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast.
11:26Brandon Champion.
11:27My name is Brian Anthony Davis.
11:29We will see you soon.
11:31Take care.