Madison, Wis. — After a closely guarded 3-pointer from Wisconsin's Kammron Taylor went down early in the second half, all MSU head coach Tom Izzo could do was scratch his head.
It was quickly becoming another one of those days.
Just like Thursday's game against Illinois, the No. 7 Spartans were victimized by an outrageous shooting day from an opposing team's guard, dropping their second Big Ten game, 82-63, to Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
Like Illinois' Dee Brown, who tallied 34 points against MSU, Taylor tied a career high, scoring 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting.
"There were times when we needed a bucket, or times when we needed something to happen, and Kam is an opportunist and he fed off of that," Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said.
Izzo said his defense played well in stretches, but failed with Taylor, who hit 5-of-8 shots from behind the 3-point arc.
For the second straight game, MSU's offense struggled with poor shooting performances from senior center Paul Davis and senior guard Maurice Ager, who shot a combined 6-for-25 from the field. It took Davis more than 23 minutes to hit his first field goal.
MSU (12-4 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) got off to a quick start, jumping to an 8-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. But after that, the Spartans didn't score a basket for more than five minutes, allowing the Badgers (12-2, 2-0) to take a 12-9 lead.
MSU took its last lead of the game at 15-14 on a jumper by Ager. Then Taylor took over, scoring 12 points, which helped to give Wisconsin a 28-17 lead while forcing Izzo into his first of many timeouts in an attempt to stop the Badgers' run.
With Davis on the bench in foul trouble and Ager unable to get into a scoring rhythm, MSU relied heavily on junior guard Shannon Brown to provide the bulk of the offense. Shannon Brown did what he could to keep the Spartans in the game, scoring 13 of his career-high 31 points in the first half.
"The only guy we had that really played was Shannon Brown," Izzo said.
The game spiraled out of control for MSU early in the second half. Within three minutes, Wisconsin opened its lead to 23 because of unforced Spartan errors and hot 3-point shooting by the Badgers, as Taylor, center Brian Butch and forward Alando Tucker all knocked down 3-point shots.
MSU cut the deficit to 13 with more than three minutes left with some hot 3-point shooting from sophomore guard Drew Neitzel, but Wisconsin hit its free throws down the stretch while the Spartans continued to miss shots and turn over the ball.
"We've got to come together as a team and get this thing situated," Shannon Brown said. "It's still early in the season."
Davis scored just two points, his lowest total since his freshman season.
"I'm a big part of the offense and if I'm not in there, at least scoring my average, I mean, we're not getting anything from me, so as far as all that stuff's concerned, it's on me and I'm going to have to change it," Davis said.
The schedule remains tough for MSU, as it plays host to No. 16 Indiana at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Breslin Center.
"We're going to have to regroup because it sure as heck isn't going to get any easier," Izzo said.
Matt Bishop can be reached at bishop20@msu.edu.
