The Spartans were one of four Big Ten teams receiving votes in the Associated Press poll, formerly had the No. 1 scoring defense in the country and held every opponent — and every opponent’s leading scorer — under their season scoring average. The only blemish on MSU’s record was a road loss to then-No. 19 Dayton where the Spartans played without sophomore center Jasmine Hines.

That all changed Sunday when the Spartans were soundly defeated at Breslin Center by No. 9 Penn State, 76-55. MSU never led at any point in the contest and after creeping within two points about 10 minutes in, the Nittany Lions shifted into a higher gear and piled on a lead that grew as large as 26.

Gone is the season-long streak of holding opponents under their scoring average — Penn State beat its average by two points — and, for now, the notion of being ranked.

Two specific issues that stuck out during the loss to Penn State were the Spartans’ lack of size inside and depth.

Three bench players carried MSU to the win against Minnesota, combining for 35 points. The concern lies in the fact that those three reserves were the only players to leave the bench.

And against Penn State, with redshirt freshman forward Akyah Taylor injured, head coach Suzy Merchant shortened her bench to two players. The Nittany Lions kept players fresh with a deep rotation featuring 10 players.

It is worth noting the Spartans lost three players to season-ending injuries at various points this year.

As MSU continues to navigate through the Big Ten schedule, often playing two or three games each week, keeping players fresh and injury-free could develop into a looming problem.

“It’s a catch-22 and one more injury and it’s like, not a good thing,” head coach Suzy Merchant said on Sunday.

“We’ve got nobody else, you know. … So you kind of go back-and-forth between overdoing it and fighting through some fatigue.”

Bad luck with injuries has been a two-dimensional hindrance, limiting the Spartans in both height and depth.

As of now, MSU has sophomore forward Becca Mills who at 6-foot-4 checks in as the Spartans’ tallest active player.

She’s flanked in the front-court by 6-foot-1 senior forward Courtney Schiffauer and rotates with Hines, who is 6-foot-3, and that’s about it down low. It boils down to two, true post players for MSU against teams featuring bigger, deeper lineups.

Minnesota’s forward tandem of 6-foot-1 Kionna Kellogg and 6-foot-2 Micaella Riche combined for 20 points and 13 rebounds.

The Nittany Lions presented a bigger challenge, rotating a foursome of players 6-foot-3 or taller. Starter Nikki Greene, a 6-foot-4 center, had 14 points and 10 rebounds to pace the group.

“We don’t have much size right now. I mean, we have one on the bench, but it doesn’t do us much good,” Merchant said, referencing 6-foot-7 sophomore center Madison Williams who is out for the year.

In all fairness, Penn State looks to be one of the better teams in the country, so expecting a monster front-court rotation of that size every game in the Big Ten might be unfair. But after splitting the first two Big Ten games and being outsized in both, it’s fair to wonder whether MSU’s size will hinder it in a deep and competitive league.

Stephen Brooks is a State News sports writer. He can be reached at brook198@msu.edu.