Postgame interviews are always littered with clichés, ranging from “They were just the better team today” to “We left it all out on the floor.”
Usually these shallow phrases give no real insight to the game or its outcome, but one phrase that fits the latest Spartan hoops defeat is “This is a good loss for us.”
While no loss is ever “good” by strict definition, MSU’s 77-66 loss to Illinois on Tuesday could be very beneficial to the Spartans in the long run.
First of all, every team needs to lose.
There has not been a team to finish a season without a loss since Bobby Knight and the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers won the national title.
Granted, the Spartans had already lost prior to Tuesday, but a loss at this point in the season can help a team focus for the long road to postseason immortality - a trip to the Final Four.
Last season, MSU lost at Purdue. Then with two games remaining in conference competition, it fell to Indiana.
The loss at Illinois is not a reflection of the potential the Spartans will have come tournament time, just as last season’s losses at Indiana and Purdue did not keep the team from a national title.
Losses like these are speed bumps on the road to the Final Four, not roadblocks.
The best-case scenario for head coach Tom Izzo and his players is to regroup and run over opponents for the remainder of their conference season.
Many fans would be quick to mention the Spartans have pummeled their opponents after their previous two losses.
Following losses at Indiana and Ohio State, MSU beat its competitors by an average margin of 29 points.
The loss to the Illini can be considered a good loss, and not because fans can expect the team to come out and overpower Minnesota on Saturday.
It was a good loss because the game was hyped as the biggest of the season, and it gave freshmen guard Marcus Taylor and center Zach Randolph an opportunity to play a game with much at stake.
Taylor and Randolph were relatively ineffective against the Illini defense and need to produce more in big games.
Big-game experience is a valuable attribute for a player to have during tournament time.
A loss can provide both these players with an experience to draw from.
The game was also a good loss because it affirms the suspicion that the Spartans are not as good of a team on the road.
For the team to be a factor in the postseason, it must win away from Breslin Student Events Center.
The Big Ten and NCAA tournaments will be played at sites not as familiar to the Spartans as Breslin Center, and the team’s consistency on the road will have to improve.
It will be hard for the Spartans to beat quality opponents like the Illini if they send their opponent to the free-throw line 30 times, as they did Tuesday. MSU only shot 11 free throws.
Not one starter for the Spartans had less than four fouls, while not one member of the Illini had more than three fouls.
Tom Izzo and the Spartans need to examine the loss during the next few days and correct the problems they had against the Illini.
MSU will have to be the team it should be - a talented, exciting squad that dictates its style of play - not the team that looked timid and lost in Champaign, Ill.; if it wants to be a force on the road.
If the Spartans don’t let a loss deflate their confidence, teams should not be happy about facing the squad when they rebound from that loss.
Losing to the Illini should help the Spartans mature and center in on postseason victories in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
The latest Spartan loss can become a “good loss” if the Spartans learn from it, begin to play better during away games and continue to drive toward the Final Four.
Dan Woike, a State News intern, can be reached at woikedan@msu.edu.
