The No. 4 MSU men’s basketball team lost for the second straight game this week, this time on the road against the Wisconsin Badgers, 77-76.
MSU falls to 16-3 on the season while Wisconsin improves to 10-9.
No. 4 MSU basketball falls on the road to Wisconsin
Head coach Tom Izzo yells to his players during the first half of the game against Illinois on Jan. 7, 2016 at Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Illini, 79-54. —
Photo by Alice Kole |
and Alice Kole
The State News
Wisconsin was led by junior guard Bronson Koenig, who finished with 27 points. Junior forward Nigel Hayes added 25 points and seven rebounds for the Badgers.
Senior MSU guard Denzel Valentine led the Spartans with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while senior forward Matt Costello added 18 points and 13 rebounds.
MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo shook up the starting lineup Sunday afternoon, opting to go with Matt McQuaid, Eron Harris, Valentine, Costello and Deyonta Davis.
In addition to this, sophomore MSU point guard Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn Jr. sat out Sunday’s game due to a lingering plantar fasciitis injury. Izzo said on a pregame radio show that Nairn could be out “a couple weeks”
The Badgers and Spartans played a back-and-forth style of play in the first half, until a flurry of Valentine 3-pointers helped MSU build a five-point lead, 34-29, at the 4:12 mark of the first half.
However, from there, Wisconsin would then use a 12-2 run to take a 41-36 lead into the break.
The Badgers were led by 15 points from Koenig and 12 points and five rebounds from Hayes.
The Spartans were led by 12 points from Harris and 11 points from Valentine in the first 20 minutes of action. MSU was called for 15 fouls in the first half.
The Spartans would open up the second half with a quick 12-2 run of its own to build a 48-43 lead with 15:41 to go in the game.
Wisconsin wouldn’t go away, though, and fought back to take a 55-54 lead with just under 12 minutes to go, and from there, the Badgers would eventually go on top by six points, 64-58 at the 8:34 mark of the second half.
The back-and-forth style of play between the two teams would continue, as the Spartans would come back and take a 70-68 lead off a transition 3-pointer from senior guard Bryn Forbes with 4:24 left.
With less than a minute to go, MSU had built a four-point lead, 76-72. But with 27 seconds to go in the game, Koenig hit a 3-pointer to close the MSU lead to 76-75.
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When MSU inbounded the ball on the ensuing possession, Harris turned the ball over on the sideline and Wisconsin's sophomore forward Ethan Happ would then hit what would prove to be a game-winning layup with 10 seconds left.
Valentine and Costello would miss shots on the other end and the Badgers would take the game, 77-76.
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