Wisconsin did not fare much better, shooting 41.4% but only turned the ball over four times and maintained a +1 rebounding margin. The Badgers were led by superstar sophomore guard Johnny Davis who finished with a game-high 25 points, seven of which came in the first half.

Despite the late fireworks, the start of the game was anything but exciting as both teams pummeled Breslin Center’s rims with missed shots.

MSU and Wisconsin both struggled to find the bottom of the basket in the opening minutes. The Badgers and Spartans combined for six points on three of 15 shooting through five minutes as it seemed the rims at the Breslin Center had a lid on them.

The familiar struggles for Michigan State in its halfcourt offense were back in the first 10 minutes. MSU only made two of its first 10 shots and turned the ball over four times, but only trailed by four after the first quarter of the game thanks to holding Wisconsin to 12 points.

Michigan State went on a four-minute scoring drought after cutting the lead to 10-8 with 12 minutes left. The disappearance of the offense allowed Wisconsin to rip off a 6-0 run to push the lead to 16-8 with nine minutes left in the half before MSU answered with an and-one from junior forward Malik Hall to cut the deficit to five. 

But the quick answer was not enough for MSU, who promptly went on another two-minute long scoring drought after Hall’s basket, along with Wisconsin. The Badgers eventually pushed the lead out to 21-13 with four minutes left in the half thanks to a three from Davis, who finished the half with seven points.

MSU came out of the final media timeout with by far its best stretch of offense in the first half, scoring 10 points in the final four minutes. However, Wisconsin was able keep a six-point lead thanks to threes from freshman guards Chucky Hepburn and Lorne Bowman II on the last two possessions of the half.

After another slow start in the opening minutes of the second half, Michigan State began to mount a slow and steady comeback thanks to the efforts of its Triple-H lineup of Hall, redshirt senior forward Joey Hauser and sophomore guard AJ Hoggard — who accounted for a 9-2 run to cut Wisconsin’s lead to a single possession with nine minutes left.

But that’s as close as Michigan State would get to a lead. Wisconsin was able to hold onto its wire-to-wire lead thanks to making seven of its last 10 shots of the game.

It was yet another feather in the cap for Davis, who is building a resounding national player of the year campaign. Davis accounted for 35.7% of Wisconsin’s total points and scored 18 of the team’s 41 second half points.

The loss drops Michigan State to 17-6 on the year and 8-4 in conference play. MSU will return to action Saturday at home against Indiana.