The men’s basketball team lost by seven points, but the game was nowhere near as close as the final score indicated.
Behind 31 points and nine rebounds from senior forward and Naismith College Player of The Year candidate Frank Kaminsky, No. 5 Wisconsin (26-3 overall, 14-2 Big Ten) clinched the Big Ten regular season title with a 68-61 victory over MSU (19-10, 10-6) on Sunday.
Men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo said Kaminsky was one of the best players in the nation last Friday, and Kaminsky backed that sentiment up against the Spartans.
"We didn't play great, but Frank Kaminsky, that kid made some plays," Izzo said. "He hit some shots with his right hand and with his left hand, he made passes, he played pretty good defense. I've never been so impressed with a player in our league since maybe Big Dog (Glenn Robinson) back in the day. I thought the kid was sensational."
Despite strong shooting from beyond the arc (9-for-17), MSU was outmatched by Wisconsin’s size. The Badgers out-rebounded MSU 35 to 24.
Wisconsin only allowed nine free throw attempts by the Spartans, of which they hit four.
Junior guard Bryn Forbes led MSU with 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting and hit all five of his 3-point attempts. Senior guard Travis Trice, who re-entered the starting lineup for Forbes, had 16 points. Junior guard Denzel Valentine added 10 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Men’s basketball head coach benched senior guard Branden Dawson to “challenge him,” according to his pre-game radio show. The move backfired, as Dawson looked disengaged throughout the game and finished with just four points and two rebounds.
After the game, Dawson revealed his son came down with pneumonia Friday, which could be a reason why Dawson seemed distracted Sunday.
The guy that replaced Dawson in the lineup, freshman forward Marvin Clark Jr., didn’t play well enough to justify the switch. Clark missed all three of his shot attempts and was replaced for Dawson at the 16:59 mark after airballing a 3-pointer.
MSU missed seven of their first eight shots, but took the lead, 11-10, at 11:19 of the first half after three consecutive triples — two from Forbes and one from Trice.
Kaminsky kept Wisconsin in the game, knocking down back-to-back triples to put the Badgers up 19-15 with 7:01 to play. By that point, Kaminsky and sophomore forward Nigel Hayes, who finished with 14 points, had all of Wisconsin’s points.
A jumper by sophomore guard Bronson Koenig capped off a 15-4 Wisconsin run that gave the Badgers a 26-17 lead with 4:28 to play.
A 15-0 Wisconsin run dating back to the first half gave essentially ended the game early in the second half, as Hayes hit a jumper at the 14:29 mark to expand Wisconsin’s lead to 22, 49-27.
MSU began to show some life later in the period. Valentine, who had a quiet first half, drained a 3-pointer at the 6:10 mark to cut Wisconsin’s lead to 14. Trice followed with a layup on the following possession.
Forbes made a corner 3-pointer with 2:28 on the clock to bring the Spartans within 11 points, but Kaminsky had no intention of allowing a comeback, hitting a one-handed bank shot to give Wisconsin enough cushion to close out the win.
"I'm very disappointed in missing free throws and not giving ourselves a chance, but as I told my team, you have two or three best players, and every team has got them," Izzo said. "I'd like to play that game without Kaminsky, or with Kaminsky playing badly. They've earned it and they deserve it."
With the loss, MSU has two potentially difficult games this week — Wednesday at home against Purdue and Saturday on the road against Indiana — before the Big Ten tournament.
As of Sunday night, MSU is tied for fourth in the Big Ten race.
