Playing a team that, like MSU, relies on its athleticism on the perimeter, and to a lesser extent its ability to score inside, the Spartans were completely out-classed.

They shot a measly 38 percent from the field, including 14.3 percent (3-of-21) from 3-point range, and couldn’t seem to match up with Ohio State’s wings and sharp-shooting guards.

“Shots weren’t falling for us,” senior center Goran Suton said. “I don’t have the excuse for it, they made their shots we missed ours. I don’t think we played as well as we have, especially defensively, and they hurt us.”

The Buckeyes shot 53.2 percent, including 9-of-16 from 3-point range. In the second half, when they extended their lead to as many as 17, they shot a blazing 57.1 percent.

“We thought early we had some shots and we didn’t make them,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “And we missed a lot of free-throws, missed a lot of shots. They made a lot of shots. Better team won today.”

In addition to poor shooting, the Spartans were uncharacteristically bad on the glass. On paper, they outrebounded the Buckeyes 39-33, but many of those rebounds weren’t collected until late in the second half when the outcome had already been decided.

Suton reaches milestone
Suton joined exclusive company Saturday, becoming the eighth player in MSU history to score at least 1,000 points and collect at least 1,000 rebounds over his career.

Suton reached the plateau with 1:48 left in the first half, when he scored on a reverse layup. The second-team All-Big Ten performer finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

“It’s hard to be happy, but I am and I’m honored to be in a special group of guys who accomplished those things,” Suton said. “It’s an honor for me, but it’s so hard to be happy after this loss.”

More-gan slumping
Raymar Morgan excited a lot of MSU fans with his strong play down the stretch of the regular season, but something seemed awry with the junior forward during the tournament.

After the loss, a dejected Morgan couldn’t identify the problem.

“I don’t know,“ he said. “It’s been a whole bunch of stuff. I can’t tell you.”

Morgan scored just six points against Ohio State, all in the first half. In the second half, he virtually disappeared, only attempting three shots.

This time, foul trouble wasn’t the issue.

Morgan was whistled just three times Saturday, as opposed to Friday, when his low-scoring performance (four points) was mostly the product of early foul trouble.

“I still feel for Raymar in some ways, because he’s battling back,” Izzo said. “But along with when you miss time, you lose your confidence in your shot.”

Dog days of Summers
The Spartans don’t need the Durrell Summers who scored 26 points in the first regular season meeting between MSU and Ohio State, but they can’t afford the Summers who finished with a donut on Saturday.

Summers has been biting a terrible shooting slump the past couple weeks. He’s scored just four total points his last three points, and 26 over his last seven.

“Durrell Summers has been struggling and he was the guy on fire for half the year, half the season,” Izzo said.

Izzo said his team needs Summers and fellow sophomore guard Chris Allen to play well for the Spartans to make a run.

“I think you remember (Ohio State guard Jon) Diebler, last year or early this year, was missing every shot and today he made a lot of shots,” he said. “You need your shooters to shoot well always.”