Madison, Wis. - A feisty Wisconsin team proved to be too much for the Spartans on Tuesday night.
MSU fell to the Badgers 64-53, ending the Spartans' three-game winning streak at the Kohl Center in front of 17,142 fans - many arriving late because of a snowstorm.
"We played good enough to bounce back but in critical times, we kind of ran out of gas," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "I can't say we played great. I thought we just played well enough to stay in there. I wouldn't have changed any things we did but play harder in stretches."
Freshman forward Erazem Lorbek attempted to lug his teammates on his shoulders but his game-high 19 points weren't enough to propel the Spartans to victory.
Remarkably, the Spartans (13-9 overall, 5-5 Big Ten) lost despite drastically outshooting the Badgers (17-5, 7-3) from the field, 52.4 percent to 37 percent. But it was the turnovers and free throws that offset the field-goal shooting.
MSU recorded 15 turnovers and finished 6-for-10 from the foul line, while the Badgers only turned the ball over five times and finished a solid 17-for-22 from the stripe.
After an early eight-point second-half deficit, the Spartans finally knotted the score at 48. But immediately after, Wisconsin scored eight-straight points that sealed the game.
But as the final seconds ticked off the clock, Badger guard Devin Harris quickly dribbled the ball up the court and lobbed an alley-oop pass to forward Alando Tucker who turned in a game-ending slam. An immensely displeased Izzo yelled, "I'll remember that."
"It is a 19-year-old throwing to an 18-year-old against Michigan State - a marked team," Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. "It's two young men, who finished with an exclamation point, who were just excited to beat a Michigan State team here. But we got out of here with a 'W' and I'm not going to let anything take that away from me."
Wisconsin guards Kirk Penney and Harris, and forward Mike Wilkinson all dropped in 14 points apiece. Wilkinson and Harris did most of their damage from the perimeter.
"We just had to pick our poison," Izzo said. "Because of Penney posting in there and (officials) calling it so close, we felt like we had to cheat a little bit."
Aside from Lorbek, no Spartan reached double figures. Senior forward Adam Ballinger and sophomore guard Chris Hill each chipped in with nine points.
After scoring 21 points against Indiana, freshman center Paul Davis became a nonfactor. Davis was in foul trouble most of the game, stopping him from getting a rhythm. He was scoreless with four turnovers. Senior forward Aloysius Anagonye, sophomore guard Kelvin Torbert and Hill all played with four fouls down the stretch.
"I felt like the guys gave the effort," Hill said. "We were just never able to capitalize on the run they had at the end."
