“We embarrassed ourselves today,” Izzo said after the game. “We fought back, but you can’t get off to that start. We were playing catch-up the whole game, and we couldn’t quite catch them.”

The Wolverines (19-12 overall, 9-9 Big Ten) couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game Saturday, while the Spartans (17-13, 9-9) were left searching for a reset button.

U-M’s Jordon Morgan struck first with a putback basket before junior forward Draymond Green split a pair of free throws less than two minutes into the game.

That free throw would end up being the last MSU points for almost the next five minutes, as the Wolverines jumped out to a 10-1 lead early in the game.

Senior guard Kalin Lucas finally broke the Spartans’ cold streak when he hit a jump shot with 13:44 left in the half. It was the first field goal of the game for the Spartans, who started shooting 1-for-10 (10 percent) from the field.

Quickly responding, U-M scored five straight points after Lucas’ jumper to extend the lead to 12 less than halfway through the first half.

After the game, Lucas said he didn’t really have an explanation as to why MSU came out and struggled so mightily early in Saturday’s game.

“They came out ready, and I guess our guys were kind of slow,” Lucas said. “We couldn’t get it going, couldn’t hit shots and they were hitting shots.”

Not wanting to drop a second game to the Wolverines this season after losing to them at Breslin Center in January, the Spartans would respond.

Led by freshman guard Keith Appling and senior guard Durrell Summers, MSU was able to cut the lead to three with almost five minutes remaining in the half.

However, with U-M already on a 5-0 run, Lucas was charged with an intentional foul after his elbow hit Tim Hardaway Jr. in the face. Zack Novak converted both free throws and Darius Morris knocked down two more free throws on the ensuing possession as U-M built a 33-19 lead with 2:25 left until halftime.

Appling and Summers, who each hit a 3-pointer in the final 1:21 of the half to make the score 33-25 at the break, were the only saving graces for the Spartans in the first 20 minutes. The duo scored the final 20 points of the half, and Summers hit double digits for the first time since Jan. 30 against Iowa.

“I was shooting confident and just being aggressive,” Summers said. “I was getting involved in the game so some good things could happen.”

But while Summers and Appling carried MSU in the first half, Lucas once again put the Spartans on his back in the second half to try and pull out the comeback victory.

After missing his first two shots of the half, Lucas scored MSU’s next nine points on the way to scoring 23 of his game-high 25 after halftime.

Lucas said he was hounded in the first half and was forced to give up the ball, but he was able to find his offense in the second.

“As far as the second half, that’s when things started to open up because we had guys like (Appling) knocking down shots in the corner and (Summers) knocking down shots,” Lucas said. “So the second half, it kind of opened up to me where I was able to get in the paint more and able to score more.”

Even with Lucas carrying the load, the Spartans found themselves down 10 with 14:12 to play, thanks in large part to the play of Hardaway Jr., who scored all of his 20 points in the second half.
Slowly but surely, though, MSU chipped away at the Wolverines lead. And led by Lucas, the Spartans cut the lead to 56:54 with 5:48 left in the game.

But that would be the closest they would get the rest of the way.

U-M iced the game away at the free throw line, where the Wolverines finished 23-for-31 (74.2 percent).

It was the first time since 1997 that U-M swept the season series, and it leaves MSU once again barely hanging on to the hope of making the NCAA Tournament. Depending on the outcome of the Penn State at Minnesota game Sunday, MSU will be either a six or seven seed in the Big Ten Tournament starting Thursday.

Lucas said the loss hurts right now, but with the Spartans possibly needing a win or two in the conference tournament to get into the Big Dance, he said he and his teammates have to get back to work as soon as possible.

“It’s very disappointing,” Lucas said of the loss. “But we can’t hold our heads for too long because we got the Big Ten Tournament next week, and we need to be ready to play.”