Wednesdays night’s game against Northwestern was no exception to the early-game struggles. Yes, the same Northwestern team that has been getting derailed in Big Ten play sans their win over Illinois and came into the game with an 8-9 overall record.

After going back-and-forth in an uninspired half of play against the Wildcats, the Spartans went into the locker room leading Northwestern by a mere four points. With all due respect to the Wildcats, this game should have been put away after 20 minutes of play, but instead the Spartans came out lacking energy.

However, this is not the first time this season MSU has started games flat against opponents they should have no problem moving through.

Over the weekend, Minnesota was leading MSU by five at halftime. Against Penn State, the Spartans were trailing by seven. When MSU played Oakland over winter break, the Grizzlies were on top by one at half.

And maybe the most puzzling halftime score came in the Spartans’ third game, when the Ivy League’s Columbia was leading MSU by four at the break.

It’s not that MSU isn’t a first half team either, because they have proven that isn’t the problem. At the Champions Classic against then-No. 1 Kentucky they exploded like a race horse coming out of the gates, starting the game on a 10-0 run and going into halftime up 12.

Even last week against then-No. 3 Ohio State, the Green Machine was rolling in the first half and took a seven point lead at half that turned into a 15 point lead into the second half.

Both games showed the Spartans coming out with energy, and thanks to those hot starts, MSU was able to fend off late-game comebacks made by Kentucky and Ohio State.

During their slow starts, however, MSU looked more like they just rolled out of bed rather than playing in front of thousands of fans.

Wednesday, it was the seven offensive rebounds in the first half that displayed the empty passion on paper. With the eye test, it was obvious there was no fire when senior guard Keith Appling hit an and-1 layup and no one on the team seemed to rally around it. Instead, the green-clad players acted like they were obligated to high-five Appling before he went to the foul line.

The same epidemic happened late in the near-upset against Columbia when senior forward Adreian Payne nailed a layup while being fouled.

With the Izzone in a frenzy behind them, the players on the court instead looked like they were fresh off reading the obituaries rather than ecstatic to take a two point lead.

Head coach Tom Izzo blasted his team after the game, saying his 87-year-old mother has more energy than his squad did that night.

Luckily enough for MSU, they have enough talent and urgency in the second half to take over the game and usually win by comfortable margins – but it won’t always be that way.

Playing the “too good to share the court with this team” card will not fly in the toughest conference in the nation for much longer.

Matt Sheehan is a State News basketball reporter. Reach him at msheehan@statenews.com.