“I thought Johnny was really efficient tonight,” Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard said on Tuesday. “I didn’t think he forced things and let the game come to him. And when it was time to make plays down the stretch, he made a lot of plays.” 

Michigan State pressed on, swinging back in any way they could with the game still very much in reach. But it all went right back to Davis, answering the call with a second-chance jumper to fend the Spartans off once again with his own shot. 

And again with a three. And a pair of free throws here and a layup there and…

“I kept looking up, kept sitting up saying ‘We’re five down, we’re three down, we’re four down, one down,” Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo said on Tuesday. “It didn’t feel like it.” 

There are levels to that unique frustration and one source can easily be pinpointed to Davis’ 17 points down the stretch, including nine straight followed up by an assist on a three from fifth-year guard Brad Davison to help knock the home team off the doorstep in another uninspiring 70-62 loss for the Spartans. For a team that made their last five attempts from the field, Davis was responsible for three of them, every bit the closer that’s helped Wisconsin to a 13-1 record in single-digit deficit games this season. 

It was the sophomore assertively waving goodbye to a frustrated Izzone after his final bucket with 20 seconds to go, capping off a 25 point performance that flipped the script on a team that dominated in Madison nearly three weeks ago. Despite wearing a nameless #51 jersey after his trademark #1 was ripped by senior center Marcus Bingham Jr., he had made himself an unmistakable presence to a displeased crowd that moved to file out early for the first time all season. 

The patience and the efficiency exhibited by the game’s MVP were not lost on the opposing coach. 

“That’s what he is and that’s why he’s a player of the year candidate,” Izzo said. “I mean, he’s the go-to guy and they went to him.” 

That term-go-to guy-lingered in the depressed postgame air as Izzo and players alike worked to take the lion’s share of the blame from each other. When Michigan State’s transition offense, their greatest weapon, is in high gear, the Spartans are one of the toughest outs in a brutal Big Ten conference, flowing at such a high level that clusters of interminable mistakes are possible to overcome. 

But when it’s not there — and it wasn’t during the second go-around against Wisconsin this season — the team is a particularly maddening brand of dysfunctional on offense, especially in the halfcourt. Gard said taking away Michigan State’s run game was Wisconsin’s primary focus as it has been for “the past 20 years” and they did so effectively, with eight fastbreak points total and a telling zero in the first half. 

Even as an offense that had been largely stagnant found some form as crunch time started to wear on, there was Davis pounding away to keep Izzo's feeling when looking at the scoreboard — how are we still in this?

And what was lacking on the court for Michigan State became as clear as it had all season.

“That’s not one of our strengths,” Izzo said after the game. “We have a lot of guys that can do something but not necessarily a go-to guy.” 

It's not a wildly unfamiliar story. Nearly a year ago, with Michigan State’s backs against the wall, they got their leading man in then-forward Aaron Henry. The junior forward took the reins and averaged 18.6 points to buoy the Spartans in a rollicking 5-2 close to the regular season that catapulted the team into the tournament. The 23-year tournament streak under Izzo stayed alive and thus, Henry became a part of Michigan State lore, remembered more than a bitter First Four loss to UCLA they fought tooth and nail to get to. 

Of course, it’s not the same situation this season. Not even close. If the season ended today, Michigan State would be a lock for the tournament and a top-five seed—only a truly unprecedented collapse would do away with that fortune.

But here they are again, without Henry and sorting through the roster to find their go-to guy with eight games to go. 

“That’s what gets developed when you lose players or you lose somebody ahead of time and you’ve gotta find somebody,” Izzo said on Thursday. “You’ve gotta make somebody that guy.” 

With that in mind, it becomes a simple question: who can be that guy? Better yet, who’s capable? 

Start with the guy that pulled off a high-level highlight of his own according to one of the guys with a jersey hanging from the rafters of the Breslin Center rafters and a 14-year career in the bigs to his name. Izzo said Steve Smith told him that junior forward Malik Hall’s spinning dunk against Wisconsin to bring the game within three—the very play that electrified the crowd immediately before Davis started to dance—was just that, an NBA move coming from a guy that’s near the top of the shortlist to become the go-to guy. 

The potential to fill the alpha role has been there all season for Hall, a player that’s admitted to never being in that position in his entire playing career dating back to Matea Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois. But despite his upperclassmen status, the way to get there isn’t exactly a straight shot: He’s one of the players Izzo that fits the bill of “young in experience” in Izzo’s eyes, around the program long enough to be a part of some great moments but never one of the key players in said occurrences. 

Then there’s the logistics provided with him coming off the bench and having to adjust to new coverages from opposing defenses, different from the ones he might be seeing on the pine. The adjustments needed to fill the role have forced him to pick and choose his spots now more than ever.

“You learn as a freshman when to shoot the ball, when not to shoot the ball, when it’s a good time, when it’s not a good time,” Hall said on Thursday. “When I can attack and when I can’t and when I should pass out or when I should be more aggressive and try to make something for myself.” 

In a process that seems impossible to speed up, Izzo has an answer for how Hall can get to the level of being a go-to option.

“What I got going for me is I got really good guys,” he said on Thursday. “Sometimes good guys gotta get a little fire in their belly. I tell Malik all the time, he’s got to be more aggressive.” 

There’s also the player literally learning when to shoot the ball, when to attack and when to pass. Izzo’s faith in freshman guard Max Christie and his development is well-documented at this point and as the team searches, he’s one option that his coach thinks can be “one hell of a go-to guy.” 

“He can shoot it, he can pass it, he can get in the lane and he can make his free throws,” Izzo said. “I have a lot of faith in him.” 

That’s the kind of package that made Izzo slot Christie at point guard with time winding down in the first half against Wisconsin, the best option in his eyes regardless of the fact that Christie’s never practiced in that role. That seat-of-the-pants confidence bolsters the case further for the freshman to take the reins more as he’s increasingly getting run off ball screens and showcasing some new moves within the offense for a familiar reason. 

“I wanted to be aggressive,” Christie said on Thursday about some of his plays against Wisconsin. “None of the shots are going to go in if you don’t try them. I went out, tried to be aggressive and dug into my bag to see what kind of finishes I could try. ... Even though some of them didn’t go in, I’m more comfortable with pulling those out again if I ever get in that situation again.” 

For Hall and Christie, how that aggression meets their aforementioned inexperience-be it from a lack of playing a certain role or genuine inexperience-can chart the course of their paths to becoming the go-to guys as much as the shots they’re provided will. Bingham and senior forward Gabe Brown, two other names on the potential shortlist that have flashed some of the same imposing qualities, sit in the same boat as their teammates, all a game away from hitting the water and steering the season forward themselves.

With this trajectory in mind, Izzo's upbeat. The feeling of being down by a lot when only down by a little has faded and given way to the optimism this process brings.

“I like our chances because I like our guys and I would like them to get a little more aggressive,” Izzo said. “That’s the kind of growth we hope to obtain in the next month.”  

Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see who dives in first.