Michigan State Unable to Shake off Rust in 30-point Loss to Rutgers
It was a sloppy first half of basketball for Tom Izzo and his Michigan State Spartans.
After a three-week hiatus due to COVID-19 cases within the MSU program, a slow start wasn't unexpected.
But it still took Michigan State six minutes to score its first bucket, which ended following a Marcus Bingham Jr. baseline fadeaway jumper.
Luckily for MSU, Bingham proved to be the spark they needed, giving the Spartans their first four points while registering four rebounds, a block, and one steal.
From there, junior guard Foster Loyer drained a 3-pointer from way downtown to cut the Scarlet Knights lead to 17-9.
Yet, Rutgers thwarted Michigan State's 7-0 run with five straight points thanks to a Ron Harper Jr. fadeaway and a three-pointer courtesy of Jacob Young.
However, a few turnovers and missed shots by Rutgers let MSU back in the game, capping off a 10-0 run with an Aaron Henry bucket as the Spartans entered the locker room down 26-20.
Unfortunately for Spartan fans, the second half didn't start much better than the first, considering Michigan State gave it away on its first two possessions while RU pushed the pace and increased their lead by double-digits.
It would only get worse.
The first five minutes featured an 11-2 run for Rutgers, four Spartan turnovers, and a 37-22 lead, essentially erasing the work MSU did to make it interesting.
Michigan State didn't help themselves; turning it over 21 times (the most all season) led to 33 points for RU, and a poor effort down low helped Rutgers dominate the painted area, specifically Myles Johnson, who proved to be a problem.
He earned his fourth double-double of 2020 while grabbing 14 boards (seven offensive rebounds), protected the rim with five blocks, and made 6-of-9 shots.
MSU shot 29% from the field, 20% from deep, were outscored 17-41 following halftime, but ending with .561 points per possession and turning the ball over 31.8% of the time is unacceptable regardless of a 20-day layoff.
And Rutgers held the Spartans under 40-points for the first time since a 36-43 loss at Iowa in 2008.
Either way, Michigan State's tournament hopes got a little bleaker tonight, falling three games below .500 in the Big Ten.
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