Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State's 68-58 loss to Ohio State at the Big Ten tournament and what it means for the Spartans

1. We saw the other side of MSU again – and it doesn’t inspire confidence

CHICAGO – This was the game every Michigan State fan feared — when the Spartans stopped shooting 60% from beyond the arc and, for one afternoon at least, couldn’t buy a bucket (hitting 3 of 16 3s). Pair that with an opponent that was hitting shots, defending with ferocity and playing with belief, and MSU had a problem it couldn’t solve.

Friday’s 68-58 loss to a suddenly rolling Ohio State team in the Big Ten quarterfinals wasn’t a game that inspires confidence that MSU is on the verge of a postseason run.

This is the sort of afternoon a team has to be able to overcome. Because it’s the sort of afternoon that could happen in almost any round of any tournament.

MSU isn’t a team that can athletically impose its will against the Buckeyes. At best for MSU, it’s an even matchup in that regard. It’s the execution, the shooting, the connectedness — that’s where the Spartans are supposed to have an advantage. But once they didn’t, they lost some of their poise and grit, too.

Every time they began to make a move, they botched it — be a bucket and foul given up right away on the defensive end, a timely missed layup, dunk or fumbled pass, or a substitution that seemed to hinder momentum.

The best of these Spartans is really good. They can get rolling. They can shoot four or five deep. They’ve got guards who can hurt you and play with swagger. The worst of MSU, though, is never far away. That team has a point guard who sometimes gets ahead of his skis — like when he unsuccessfully tried to dunk the ball on a fast break at a key point in the second half when a layup would have done the trick. That MSU team has a center who struggles to grab hold of the ball, be it catching passes or rebounding, as Mady Sissoko did at times Friday, and a freshman backup big man who isn't quite ready to always offer a better alternative when it's needed. MSU rarely gets anything easy at the rim. It's a hard way to live sometimes. That team has a senior forward, Malik Hall, whose season has been derailed by injury and is unable to find any sort of offensive groove.

That’s the team that we saw too often Friday. That’s the team MSU has to avoid being the rest of the season, or it won’t last through next weekend.

MSU did not lose to the Ohio State team it beat 62-41 a month ago in Columbus. It lost to the Ohio State team it narrowly beat at home last week. The Spartans just didn’t hit shots this time. And the Buckeyes, who were the most disappointing team for most of the Big Ten season, have found something over the last couple weeks — beating Illinois, Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa and now MSU, with their only loss by six points six days ago in East Lansing. They’re wreaking havoc on a league that for a long while this winter, they looked lost against. Friday, in their third game in three days, they played with a fire to them. And MSU didn't.

"It's one of the more disappointing days (this season) because I thought we had a legitimate chance to maybe win this thing," Tom Izzo said. "That doesn't mean everything's gone wrong, and the way we played the last three weeks, month, after all we've been through, has been pretty damn good. Today we laid an egg, and part of it was Ohio State, and part of it was Michigan State.

The Spartans' opponents aren’t likely to get worse or less athletic or less confident in the NCAA tournament.

MSU battled in this one in the second half. The good Hoggard showed up for a while late, trying to pull the Spartans with him, erase the damage from early in the game. Ohio State had an answer. A lot of teams from here on out will. The Spartans can’t play that way and hope to survive. They won't have to play a team they've already beaten twice. That'll help.

"It was good we just played them, so we had a good feel for them," Ohio State senior Justice Sueing said. " ... We had a lot of confidence going in."

I still think MSU can make a run, get to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, be a tough out. I just trust the idea a little less.

2. MSU’s small-ball lineup isn’t giving it an advantage

The idea behind a lineup with Joey Hauser and Malik Hall as your power forward-center combo is that it should cause a headache for your opponent’s center, trying to guard a quicker, more skilled player, someone they have to defend out to the 3-point line and chase out of the paint. It’s not happening for MSU. Really hasn’t much this Big Ten season. And Friday should have been the perfect matchup for it to be an advantage, with Ohio State center Felix Okpara in the game, the Spartans needing a jolt offensively, trailing 24-17 with 6:30 until halftime.

More than two minutes later, it was 28-19 Ohio State and MSU’s offense didn’t look anymore threatening.

And when MSU cut the Buckeyes' lead to 56-50 in the second half with a quick four points, Hall replaced Sissoko. It didn't work. The momentum dissipated quickly.

Hall’s foot injury, time missed and now lack of rhythm offensively — and movement defensively, hindered by a bad back — have prevented MSU’s small-ball lineup from ever having a chance to take flight. It’s probably time to bail on it. It’s not a lineup that causes any trouble for opponents defensively. And it doesn’t rebound well enough or give the Spartans enough of an athletic feel defensively to make it OK for it to be on the floor without providing a spark on the other end.

3. This likely solidifies the Spartans as a 7 seed in the NCAA tournament

Losing to Ohio State probably won’t drop the Spartans a seed line in the NCAA tournament. The metrics have loved the Buckeyes all season, more than their record. This might wind up being a Quad 1 loss for MSU by the time it’s all said and done, and will be if Ohio State finishes in the top 50 in the NET rankings. The Buckeyes were No. 56 entering Friday’s game.

But if MSU was straddling that line between a 6 and 7 seed, this probably affirms the Spartans’ placement as a 7 seed, meaning they'd face a 10 seed in the first round and, if they win, a 2 seed in the second round. Same as last year. The shame in that is this team is better than last year's team in some ways and yet in the same spot.

Seeding probably matters less for this team than any MSU team in recent memory. When they’re good, there might not be any teams in college basketball these Spartans can’t beat. There also probably aren’t any 10 seeds out there that can’t beat the version of them we saw Friday.

There’s nothing left to be done other than wait for the brackets.

MORE: Couch: Steven Izzo makes his mark on MSU basketball as he and his dad make up for lost time

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU basketball falls to Ohio State at Big Ten tourney: 3 quick takes