And with that.. the regular season is over.

Michigan State needed at least one win this week to stay in the NCAA tournament field. That is exactly what Sparty did because why win both, right? Ha. Like I kind of said in the preview, Northwestern had the better record but Indiana might give MSU more problems. The Spartans were able to get the home win vs Northwestern but fell to Indiana in a classic at Assembly Hall.

Senior Night in East Lansing is always a special night and the team made it extra special with a win. While the Spartans pulled out the victory, it was far from pretty. The final score of 53-49 was the lowest scoring game the Spartans have played in all year as well as the first time holding an opponent under 50. I think that MSU was a little too emotional and fired up from the Senior night ceremony pregame. In the first half, Sparty shot 22% from the field and only put up 20 points. It was a very slow start but Sophomore, Tre Holloman came in and hit 2 3 pointers to give the crowd some life before half. With a performance like this MSU faced a 5 point deficit at the half. Northwestern was led by their captain Boo Buie in the first half who had 9 points after shooting 3/4 from distance. Martinelli also scored 6 in the first half for the Wildcats. Another home loss would have been devastating so I am very thankful Tom Izzo was able to win the chess match in the 2nd half. It is very fitting that on Senior night the Spartans were led by 2 seniors; Tyson Walker and Malik Hall. These 2 combined for 34 of Michigan State’s 53 points in this one which included multiple clutch buckets and free throws. Tyson Walker made 2 clutch layups with about 2 minutes left in the game and Northwestern was never able to clutch up. This was one of Michigan State’s worst shooting games of the season. The team shot 31% from the field and 11% from 3 (2-17), so shoutout to Tre Holloman there! Michigan State was able to use their size advantage in this one outscoring the Wildcats 26-14 in the paint. In an emotional game, Sparty was able to pull it off. Lastly, Tom Izzo’s post game interview (attached) with his son was what sports are all about!

In the game against Northwestern both teams started slow, on Sunday in Assembly Hall this was not the case. Unfortunately for the Spartans it was the Hoosiers that caught fire early. I’m not going to lie I was ready to turn the game off already after the 20-5 start from Indiana. The inability to move the ball and score was glaring early on for MSU as they had 5 points through 8 minutes. Indiana was getting contributions from everyone early as 4 of 5 starters had scored in this stretch. Indiana continued to hold their big lead until the final minutes of the first half. The Spartans led mainly by Malik Hall scored 8 in the final 1:30 to make it only a 5 point deficit. The momentum was still with us as the second half started. A literal barrage of 3s from Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins who each hit 2 in the first 4 minutes got MSU into the lead, 43-36. Indiana had a great response on their own Senior day led by Kel’el Ware who had 19 of his 28 in the second half. Ware is a future NBA pick and the difference between him and any of the MSU bigs was glaring. Ware and the Hoosiers dominated the paint outscoring the Spartans 40-22.

This was a very winnable game for MSU despite their start. Up 5 points with 10 minutes left the Spartans went scoreless for almost 4 minutes. Giving up runs has become a common theme for MSU recently it seems. These runs for other teams start because Michigan State gets so stagnant on offense. As soon as the opposing crowd gets into the game they just hold the ball up top for like 20 seconds and then make Walker try to create a shot. This was a special game from Walker who had 30 points for just the 2nd time this season. I found it cool he started the regular season with 30 and then finished it with 30. Speaking of finishes, the refs obviously wanted this game to finish. With the game tied at 64 they called a foul on Malik Hall sending Kel’el Ware to the line. Ware hit 1 of 2 and gave Indiana the lead. Michigan State still had time to get a shot and win the game if it hit. The look for Walker at the end was good but it did not drop and that’s how the regular season ended for Sparty.

It was a roller coaster of a regular season for the Spartans who finished 18-13 and 10-10 in conference play. The Big 10 tournament starts this week and MSU will face Minnesota on Thursday. The time for this game is TBD but it will be played in Minneapolis, the host city for the tournament this year. According to most bracketologists, Michigan State needs to win this game to lock in their spot in March Madness. The winner of this game would go on to face 1 seed Purdue on Friday. As always, GO GREEN!