Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast: Recapping Spartans' Loss to USC

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Transcript

00:00Hi, everyone, and welcome to this latest edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast.

00:05I'm your beer reporter for Michigan State Spartans on SI, Aidan Champion.

00:11Coming to you this time after a loss for Michigan State men's basketball, 70 to 64 loss to USC

00:21on the road to begin Michigan State's two-game trip out west.

00:29First loss in Big Ten play this year.

00:33First loss since November.

00:34This team had previously been on a 13-game win streak.

00:43And we knew it was bound to happen, but, you know, if you want to lose a game in this tough

00:55month of February, we knew this was going to be a gauntlet of a month for Michigan State.

01:01This wasn't one to lose.

01:05You didn't want to start off things on the wrong foot to begin the month, and you wanted

01:11to have some momentum going into, you know, that tough stretch of ranked teams.

01:19But, you know, it just sometimes it's not your night.

01:25And honestly, this was a pretty even game in terms of the stat sheet.

01:31I mean, both teams shot 42 percent.

01:35Michigan State only committed two more turnovers, though turnovers was a big part of their downfall

01:42in this one, 13.

01:46And then, you know, USC only made two more three-pointers.

01:54Both, I mean, that area was pretty similar as well, 33 percent from beyond the arc for

02:03Michigan State, 32 percent from beyond the arc for USC.

02:08Rebounding was, it didn't feel like it.

02:10It felt like Michigan State was dominated at certain points on the boards, but ultimately

02:20they actually out-rebounded USC by just one, 34-33.

02:30And then, you know, what the game really came down to, though, Sprytos, I mean, in

02:40a two-possession outcome to leave eight points at the line, that's not going to get done.

02:52That ultimately hurts you badly, especially, as I said, when this, you know, this game

02:59came down to two possessions, six points.

03:04Surprisingly, you know, Cohen Carr, who had improved so much this year in free-throw shooting,

03:14you know, Tom Izzo has praised him for it.

03:16He only shot one for four from the line.

03:21What was really surprising about this game was the fact not a single Spartan scored more

03:27than 12 points.

03:30You know, a lot of them got in the scoring column, which is usually the case, but only

03:37two finished in double figures.

03:39That was Jeremy Fiers, who was the Spartans' leading scorer with 12, and Jay Nakins with

03:4711.

03:50Carr came close with nine, and then, you know, other than that, I mean, Jace Richardson

04:01at eight, he had two, or not, excuse me, just won three, but, you know, this wasn't a great

04:13scoring performance for Michigan State.

04:18Trapped down early, 6-0, eventually became 13-4.

04:26They were able to make it a three-point game at half with a valiant late first-half push,

04:33but, you know, I mean, they fought hard in the second half, but ultimately it wasn't

04:40enough to get it done.

04:43Today, USC just looked like the better team, not by a lot, but they seemed to have more

04:51of an edge than Michigan State, and, you know, some of the things we've said that are eventually

04:59going to come and come back to bite the Spartans did today, so, you know, all in all, wasn't

05:11a good day for Michigan State, wasn't a great way to start off the month.

05:17You know, there's no reason to panic or anything like that, of course.

05:23Still just their first loss in conference play, and they had been playing such great

05:27basketball going into this game, and, you know, it might give them the spark they need

05:33when they face a tough UCLA team on Tuesday.

05:36UCLA has won five straight, really turned things around after dropping four in a row

05:42to start January, but, you know, like I said, this might be what Michigan State needed going

05:50into this game.

05:51It's not necessarily what they need, you know, when you consider the stretch they're going

06:00to go into after this West Coast trip, but all in all, to taste some of the diversity

06:11right now may pay off for them in the long run.

06:16This is a game they'll be able to look at and say, you know, we learned from this.

06:24We got to remember that when we don't do this and this well, this is what can happen, because

06:31they're getting away with it a lot of times.

06:35So, you know, yeah, this may prove to be beneficial, but today it can stain a little bit.

06:49So, as I said, Spartans will be back, still be in Los Angeles, they'll be at Pauley Pavilion

06:58Tuesday night to take on UCLA, which, you know, UCLA's not ranked right now.

07:05They may be on Monday after winning five straight and having upsets over two ranked teams with

07:18Wisconsin and most recently Oregon.

07:22So, you know, this right now, this may be one of the better teams in the Big Ten.

07:27We thought it was going to be, you know, early on in the season before they went into that

07:38lull there with the four straight losses, but they've turned things around on their

07:43back.

07:43So it's going to be another big test for Michigan State.

07:47UCLA probably is the better team than USC.

07:51And so, you know, Spartans will need to adjust and expect them to be hungry, expect them

07:58to have a bit of a chip on their shoulder.

08:02I, you know, I thought if they could split this trip, I thought it'd be a success.

08:14I guess I kind of viewed it more, though, as a successful trip that the split, you know,

08:19had been lost to UCLA, went over USC, just because I feel UCLA is the better team, probably

08:27how most feel.

08:30But regardless, kind of seems like for the sake of, you know, having a good month of

08:41February, the Michigan State needs to win on Tuesday.

08:46So we'll see how that goes.

08:49And until then, continuing to follow along with our coverage on Michigan State Spartans

08:55on SI, giving you daily content.

09:00And you guys have been great, and thank you for all the engagement and following along

09:07with our men's basketball coverage this season.

09:12We will catch you guys off some more podcasts before that game, but we'll bring you post

09:20game coverage from Tuesday's game against UCLA.

09:24So thank you, everyone, and have a great rest of your weekend.

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