While they had a week in preparation time for the Huskies, MSU looked dumbfounded at times, struggling to know the situation. Head coach Tom Izzo said the team had some of its best practices this week, however could not translate it over to the game.

Mental lapses, such as focusing on finishing a dunk or layup, harmed the Spartans on the fight against the Huskies. Junior guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. constantly struggled throughout the loss. Nairn said he puts this loss on himself. On one occasion, Nairn flew through the defense on the way to the bucket, but was unable to convert the open layup.

The best performance from the Spartans came from freshman guard Cassius Winston, who notched a double-double, 21 points and 10 assists.

“I thought our practices were great,” Izzo said. “Young teams need to learn to bring it, but it wasn’t the young team that didn’t bring it. It was some of the old team that didn’t bring it. We just didn’t translate it from practice to game. That’s the way it is. We got outrebounded by a couple even though we were outrebounding them in the second half. We did a better job on that. Like I said, you can’t miss dunks, layups and free throws. We probably still scored enough points to win. If we make a few more dunks, layups and free throws we score 80 easy. It was our defense that let us down with second shots and effort-related things.”

Time after time, Northeastern senior forward Alex Murphy popped off of ball screens and gracefully twinkled the twine from downtown.

Another issue was defensive rotations to cover 3-point shooters. On multiple occasions, MSU would be screened, but the player guarding the screener would not help out. When MSU recognized the open shooter in the corner, it was too late.

Northeastern went on to bury 11 3-point field goals on 23 attempts, for a high percentage of 47.8 percent.

“I got back cut on defense, something I never really do,” Nairn said. “We have to play focused for 40 minutes, it can’t be 39 minutes, it can’t be 30.”

The Huskies held the lead for nearly all of the first half and the majority of the second. MSU was able to pull ahead for a six-point lead, but went cold. The Spartans then missed more free throws and the Huskies were able to retake the lead after sinking another long-range triple.

“That one three that they hit that we slipped, it seems like they hit four or five threes,” Winston said.

Winston said he can’t put a word on their inability to remain focused, but said more intensity is needed out of the team. Winston also said players are in positions they are unfamiliar with, which is leading to some confusion on the court. He said when he is put at shooting guard rather than point guard, he understands what the play is or what to do, however mentally it doesn’t click as fast for him.

“We have a little lapse every game that we’re just not playing our basketball,” Winston said.

The team looks in desperate need of their leading scorer and rebounder, freshman forward Miles Bridges. In the place of Bridges, sophomore guard Kyle Ahrens has received the bulk of added minutes. Ahrens said the team was well prepared for Northeastern, however they just didn’t execute the gameplan.

“(Northeastern) did exactly what we expected them to do, we just didn’t finish the job,” Ahrens said.

Ahrens’ mental lapse occurred on the offensive end. After cutting to the elbow, Ahrens had the ball with no one around him. After two seconds of standing wide open, he then made the decision to drive in for a layup. While he was mentally processing the scenario, fans cried out for him to shoot the ball.

The Spartans will have their next chance to shake off the loss to Northeastern on Dec. 21 against Oakland University. The game is set to tip-off at 7 p.m. at the Breslin Center and will be televised on Big Ten Network.