SPORTSWEDNESDAY

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 | michigandaily.com

32 pts, 9 asts, 11-19 fg

CASSIUS

Alec Cohen / Daily 
Design by Jack Silberman

Wolverines 
fall to
Spartans,
87-69, in East 
Lansing

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

MEN’S BASKETBALL

EAST LANSING – This game was almost
exactly as advertised.
 Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman: stifling on 
defense and prolific on offense. As advertised. 
Tom Izzo: calculating game manager, passion-
ate coach. As advertised. The Spartan faithful: 
loud. Like, really loud. As advertised. 
 Michigan, too, was just as advertised. The 
Wolverines played with plenty of juice, the 
excitement of this rivalry seeming to fuel them, 
and for a while, they stayed with Michigan 
State.
 But eventually, it was too much for them. Till-
man and Winston were too dynamic on offense, 
their arms and hands somehow everywhere at 
once on defense. Izzo was too experienced with 
this game and with this Michigan program, his 
game plan capitalizing on the scoring droughts 
that have plagued these Wolverines all season. 
 And so, No. 12 Michigan fell to in-state 
archrival No. 14 Michigan State, 87-69, at the 
Breslin Center on Sunday. The offense struggled 
to put the ball in the basket and the defense could 
not contain the Spartans’ top scoring threats.
 Just as advertised. 
 “I think we hesitated a lot, and second-guessed 
ourselves, which kind of helps us to miss,” said 
sophomore forward Brandon Johns, Jr., who had 
12 points and two rebounds on the day. “I think 
we need to be more confident when we’re shoot-
ing. It’s a mental thing. We just have to stay 
mentally strong, mentally composed. 
 “The more we do that, the more our shots 
will fall.”
 Michigan State jumped out to an early lead 
as Michigan’s offense seemed to falter at 
the beginning, scoring just six points before 
the under-16 timeout. The defense also had 
trouble containing Spartan point guard and 

potential National Player of the Year Cassius Winston and forward 
Xavier Tillman, allowing Michigan State to jump out to a five-point 
lead around the 15-minute mark. 
 But by halfway through the first half, the Wolverines managed to 
make it a two-point game behind a strong effort from senior point 
guard Zavier Simpson and senior center Austin Davis. A quick-
er pace of play, something that rookie Michigan coach Juwan 
Howard has continued to stress throughout his first season at the 
helm for Michigan, seemed to be the key for the Wolverines, who 
started to match the speed of the Spartans in transition.
 Michigan’s success was short-lived, though. From there, the 
Wolverines’ shots just weren’t falling; they scored just five points 
between the ten- and six-minute marks. The loss of top-scoring 
junior forward Isaiah Livers was painfully evident. At the end of 
the first half, Michigan State led, 44-34.
 “It was a big win for us, because the final score was not indic-
ative of the game,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. “We got 
that eleven, twelve-point lead, but we just couldn’t build on it. It’s a 
credit to them.” 
 From there, the game was never really in question. The Wolver-
ines came out of the halftime break playing as physical as they have 
all year, seemingly in an effort not to go too quietly, but even then, 
it was too little, too late. The Spartans had found their rhythm, and 
Michigan could not find a way to shake it. Tillman and Winston were 

practically unstoppable, and in the entire second half, the Wolverines 

found themselves within closer than ten points of the Spartans just 

twice. 

 Every Michigan effort seemed to come up short as Michigan State 
expanded its lead to the delighted cries of the rabid crowd at Breslin. Every 
time a maize jersey broke away, he was surrounded by white in a matter of 
seconds as Spartan shot after Spartan shot found nothing but net – and not a 
Wolverine in sight to stop them. 
 “Unfortunately for us, we didn’t do a good job communicating on the open 
man, and where he was, so that’s why they were able to score so much in tran-
sition,” Howard said. “There’s no excuses for that. We prepared for it. We just 
didn’t do it. And at the end of the day, you have to do your job.”
 In the end, it wasn’t that close. Michigan State’s talent and experience 
proved too much for this Michigan team. 
 Just as advertised.

