Takeaways from Michigan’s loss to MSU

The Michigan State Spartans took control in the second half and handed Michigan Basketball its first home loss of the season. Here are the takeaways from the loss:

For the first time since Dusty May took over as head coach, the No. 12 Michigan Wolverines lost at home. The Wolverines came up short against their biggest rival, falling to the No. 14 Michigan State Spartans, 75-62. With this loss, Michigan loses its lead at the top of the Big Ten to a team that always seems to play its best late in the season.

After a really nice first half, the Wolverines couldn’t score consistently enough in the second half, shooting a mediocre 37.5 percent from the field. Offensive lapses combined by a hell of a showing from MSU’s guards — Tre Holloman and Jase Richardson combined for 39 points — helped the Spartans to victory.

Here are the takeaways from Michigan’s first home loss of the season.

Michigan State was the better team in the second half

Back-to-back threes from Holloman midway through the second half gave the Spartans what felt like a commanding eight-point lead with 10 minutes and change. A three-minute scoring drought from the Wolverines helped Michigan State jump out to an 11-point lead a few game minutes later, putting Michigan in a hole it couldn’t climb out of.

Michigan struggled mightily offensively in that second half, missing 10 of its first 15 shots. It was a combination of stout half-court defense by the Spartans and inconsistent execution for the Wolverines.

Credit to the Spartans; they did a fantastic job scoring off Michigan makes, not allowing the Wolverines to grab momentum away for more than a possession or two late in this game.

Jase Richardson is a HOOPER

Richardson has emerged as MSU’s best player, and he took over the game at times on Friday. The freshman guard led all scorers with 11 points at the half, and got up to 16 points with a three0pointer to kick off the second-half scoring followed by a flashy spin-move into a layup in transition.

Just as Michigan started to grab back momentum in the second half, Richardson just kept getting bucket after bucket. Michigan’s guards didn’t have many answers for Richardson, who finished with a game-high 21 points and provided Michigan State the reliable scoring that the Wolverines lacked in that second half.

Goldin impresses in a Big Ten game yet again

Vlad Goldin has been especially good in Big Ten games this season, and the Wolverines kept feeding him as the game went along.

Just as it’s been all season long, Area 50-1 was Michigan’s most reliable form of offense, with Danny Wolf finding Goldin — who created space for himself beautifully inside — for easy buckets. The Russian giant took over during Michigan’s 8-0 run late in the second half, knocking down some key buckets, albeit coming up short at the free throw line (3-of-5).

Goldin led all Wolverines with 20 points and had solid rim protection. Michigan even won the points in the paint (34-32), but it wasn’t enough to lead to victory.

Got to make your free throws

You’ll take any point you can get in a rivalry game, and the Wolverines left more than a few points on the table at the charity stripe. Michigan shot a not-so-great 61 from the line, missing five of its first 11 attempts. This was well below its season average (73 percent).

Maybe it was the pressure of this rivalry game, but hopefully this blip at the free throw line isn’t a lingering problem come next month.

MSU rebounds the hell out of the ball

Crashing the offensive glass is a staple of Tom Izzo offenses, and the Spartans did exactly that. It was a rough start early, with Michigan giving up a few offensive rebounds in the first few possessions. MSU had much more offensive rebounds (11) than Michigan (seven), including eight in that first half alone.

For a team with two 7-footers, Michigan has been an inconsistent rebounding team, and the Spartans took advantage.

Wolf jumpstarts a big first-half run, shows off NBA prowess

Wolf said in the days leading up to this game that matchups like this are why he came to Michigan. Playing for the school he was a fan of as a kid — in that school’s biggest rivalry game — Wolf looked like an NBA player.

Wolf accounted for nine straight Michigan points at one point in the first half, scoring seven straight Michigan points, including a slick mid-range and a three that rattled home.

After that, he showed off the court vision with a little razzle-dazzle on this behind-the-back pass to Roddy Gayle Jr.

Wolf’s spurt in the first half jumpstarted a 15-0 first-half run over a five minute span (12:23-7:19) that saw Michigan go from down eight to up seven. Wolf didn’t do as much in the second half, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.

Enjoy the 7-footer while you have him, Michigan fans.

Burnett stays efficient

Nimari Burnett thrives as a finisher in Michigan’s system and is especially efficient at home. Friday night was no different.

Burnett (12 points) made four of his first six shots and led the team at the half with nine points. The Wolverines as a team were quite efficient in that first half, making 54 percent of their shots (14-of-26). Burnett should have gotten more of Gayle’s minutes late in this game.

Up Next

The Wolverines have the weekend off before playing three games in a seven-day span:

• @ Nebraska, Monday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. EST on FS1
• Vs Rutgers , Thursday, Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. EST on Peacock
• Vs Illinois, Sunday, March 2 at 3:45 p.m. EST on CBS