The Spartans undoubtedly are having trouble swallowing Tuesday night's 68-64 overtime loss to No. 18 Wisconsin that put possible Big Ten Championship celebrations on hold.
But that's nothing compared to what freshman guard Shannon Brown had to deal with before, during and after the game.
His close friend, Calvin Ector, was shot and killed at 10 p.m. Monday, leaving a heavy burden on Brown as he played against the Badgers.
Brown said he and Ector played high school basketball together.
"I tried not to let it affect me," Brown said in the locker room after the game.
"I don't want anybody feeling sorry for me because of the way I played and that was the reason I didn't have a good game.
"I just didn't play well."
He later admitted it was more than just in the back of his mind.
"It had a little bit of an effect."
Brown, who is averaging 6.3 points per game in conference play, finished the game scoreless, shooting 0-for-5 in just 10 minutes of play - the only game this season where he failed to record a point.
"We tried to do some work this afternoon, but that poor kid has struggled," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.
Premature banner-dropping
Maybe the Spartans (17-10 overall, 12-4 Big Ten) were too quick in anticipating a fifth Big Ten Championship in seven seasons Tuesday night.
In the rafters between the Wisconsin bench and the nearest basket was a rolled-up Big Ten Championship banner, waiting to be unfurled if the Spartans were victorious.
Obviously, the unrolled banner, fans rushing the court, police escorting Wisconsin players off the floor for safety reasons and streamers filling the air didn't happen.
Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said he didn't notice the banner.
"I don't think any of my guys saw it," Ryan said.
"I never saw it. The only time I looked up there was one time, they put my dad in the top row and I looked for him during the game - it was Rupp Arena in 1977, when it first opened."
It's a hard-knock life
Senior center Jason Andreas contributed to Senior Night by scoring six points and adding two rebounds and an assist in 16 minutes. It was the day before that was far less enjoyable.
Andreas was taken to the hospital after taking a hit to his temple during a team huddle. The hit caused numbness in his arm and blurred vision.
"We had some freak things happen in the last day or two and tonight," Izzo said.
Bo knows MSU?
Bo Jackson might know baseball, but Bo Ryan knows Izzo.
The Wisconsin coach improved to 4-0 against MSU's head coach. Ryan's first victory came on Jan. 12, 2001, a win that snapped MSU's 53-game, home-court winning streak.
The second came last season with a 64-53 win in Madison.
The Badgers swept the regular-season series against the Spartans this year, winning 77-64 in Madison on Jan. 10 and Tuesday night.
Wisconsin's win gives Ryan and his team a chance at a third straight Big Ten Championship. Of course, like the Spartans, the Badgers need Illinois to slip in one of its final two regular-season games in order to get a piece of the title.
