Indiana men’s basketball’s late season spiral continued on Sunday afternoon with a 77-64 loss to Michigan State at home in Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers entered this final four game stretch on a slightly comfortable side of the bubble following two blowout road losses against Illinois and Purdue. A loss to Michigan State was affordable given the Spartans’ standing nationally and in the conference. Falling to Northwestern was not as Indiana has just about slipped out of the NCAA Tournament picture altogether.
Lamar Wilkerson led Indiana in scoring with 29 points, with 19 in the second half. He took 21 shots to get there, going 5-14 from 3-point range as the Hoosiers tried to fight their way back into the game in the second half. He was trailed by Tucker DeVries’ 20 points, but he went a similarly inefficient 6-16 from the field as the rest of the Hoosiers were hesitant on looks or took poor ones in late clock situations.
There were moments in the second half when it looked like the Hoosiers could make it interesting, but they weren’t able to hold up to the Spartans’ offense.
Indiana returns to action on Wednesday, taking on Minnesota at Assembly Hall.
