Couch: 3 quick takes (and more) on Michigan State's 88-74 loss at Northwestern

1. At Northwestern, MSU shows it's not as tough and savvy as it showed at home

EVANSTON, Ill. – Michigan State has played some terrific basketball over the past month. Truly turned its season. But if the Spartans want more than a fourth-place Big Ten finish and a 6 or 7 seed in the NCAA tournament, they’ll have to play with more grit, focus and savvy on the road in the Big Ten over the next two months than they did Sunday night at Northwestern.

MSU played a good schedule though the first two months of the season. The Spartans did not play in many tough environments. Just one — at Nebraska, a 77-70 loss, when they had some of the same problems as Sunday night.

I don’t think MSU’s recent spell on its home court (or in Detroit) lied about who MSU can be. But the harshest truths are on the road — where momentum can be a bear, where the crowd cheers your failings, where the opponent’s shooters are most comfortable, where the whistle tends to be less kind, where inconsistencies become weaknesses and weaknesses (like defensive rebounding) become a problem.

The NCAA tournament is played on neutral courts. But the teams that are given good seeds and favorable postseason paths are tough enough to win on the road. And Big Ten championships are won by teams that win at least half of their conference road games.

That said, Purdue lost at Northwestern. Its only loss of the season, albeit in overtime. James Madison, which started the season 14-0, lost its second conference road game, at Southern Miss, ranked No. 233 in Kenpom, because winning on the road in conference play, in any league, is hard. That’s something analytics fail to accurately measure, especially with good teams in smaller leagues.

MSU is a good team in a big league. Northwestern is a capable and seasoned opponent, with a backcourt that can get rolling. You’d better bring more than MSU did if you expect to leave a refurbished Welsh Ryan Arena — now also with a boisterous student section — with a road win.

You can’t have Malik Hall play the game he did — without a point or rebound and being replaced at one point in a critical juncture in the second half by Xavier Booker. Or for Tre Holloman to disappear for a half or so. Or, as a team, to give up eight offensive rebounds in the first half. Or to lose Northwestern’s outside shooters the way the Spartans did. All night, it looked like they were confused how to defend Northwestern’s actions offensively. The Wildcats made nine 3-pointers. It was a loud nine. Felt like more.

MSU will lose more Big Ten road games. They’ll probably get blitzed somewhere along the way.

This wasn’t a blitzing, though. This was MSU getting out-toughed and outplayed. This was MSU staring at some harsh truths about what they can also be when aren’t completely dialed in across the board, when their opponent slows them down, and when don't have their own fans to kick them into gear.

This was a bad night. MSU has to learn from it and make sure it's only that.

2. Reasons to think MSU will be fine and reasons to be concerned

To think how we feel tonight about MSU's basketball team is the way we'll feel the rest of this season is foolish. This team has already changed the vibe about them in dramatic fashion once this season — and did so with one fantastic performance against a good opponent (Baylor) in a friendly environment (Little Caesars Arena). American sports fans aren't built for the ebbs and flows of a college basketball season, where each game is replaced by another a few days later. Every game is mood-changing when it shouldn't be. This isn't football.

However ...

This game should leave a mark.

The question is whether this MSU team has enough resolve, toughness and talent to start also winning regularly against capable Big Ten teams on the road. Not all the time. But often enough. And when the Spartans don't win, for it to not look like that.

There are reasons to think MSU will be OK and reasons to be worried. Let's go through some of them:

Reason to think they're OK: A.J. Hoggard actually played pretty well Sunday. Tom Izzo thought so, too. His strong play really dates back to early December, without interruption. MSU can't win big games without Hoggard playing at a high level. That is an absolute. Hoggard had 13 points, eight assists and three turnovers Sunday. And he recognized the moment when he needed to take control of the game and was perhaps one errant pass from doing so.

With MSU down 10 late in the first half, he aggressively went after a rebound and then took it coast to coast for a score while drawing a foul. His free-throw cut the margin to seven. Then he put together a stellar defensive possession, creating a steal. But, in trying to push the ball ahead for a fast-break bucket, his pass was intercepted, which led to a Northwestern 3-pointer and killed the attempted rally. That's as close to a run as MSU had. Just as importantly, afterward, when that sequence was mentioned, Hoggard jumped on the chance to take accountability.

“It change the game,” he said. “ … Everyone watching the game knew what I was trying to do, to get that layup, that touchdown right there. But I’ve got to be smarter than that.”

Hoggard isn't MSU's issue. And that's a good thing.

Reason to be concerned: Malik Hall. Northwestern coach Chris Collins called him an X-factor and said that, after Hall scored 24 points against Penn State on Thursday, they intended to try to take him away. Izzo said Hall also took himself away. Either way, he had no points and no rebounds and two turnovers in 26 minutes. This, after a combined 42 points and 13 rebounds over MSU's last two games.

Hall does a lot for MSU that doesn't show up in the scorebook in terms of communication, but his line Sunday was inexcusable for a player of his experience and ilk. Hall's success doesn't always translate to MSU's success — for example, he didn't play all that well against Baylor, but he was great in defeat at Nebraska — but a baseline of consistency and tone-setting toughness is needed from him. And it's concerning it didn't show up Sunday.

Reason to think they're OK: Stuff happens on the road, especially against a sound Northwestern team with five days to prepare, coming off its own road shellacking, by 30 on Tuesday at Illinois. The home-road splits in the Big Ten (and college basketball) are often wild. Northwestern was bruised and focused, about where MSU was mentally when the Spartans thumped Baylor. Collins said Northwestern changed how it was moving without the ball and his players executed as well as they have — and they made shots, more than 50% of them. He also said the pace in which the Spartans had been playing stood out to him and so they worked to slow MSU down. That's harder to counter on the road. If MSU responds with vigor on Thursday at Illinois, there's no great harm in Sunday's defeat. Provided the manner in which it happened is a one-off.

Reason to be concerned: It might not be a one-off. MSU's defense, its calling card and identity, has not traveled in its only two true road games this season — at Nebraska and Sunday at Northwestern. Those are the only team teams to shoot 50% or better against the Spartans this season. This is also not a great rebounding team and that hurt the Spartans a ton Sunday. It led to Northwestern taking control initially. MSU is also 9-6 overall now and 1-3 in the Big Ten, heading to Illinois, one of the toughest places in the league to play. Teams that start 1-4 in the Big Ten — and MSU never has under Izzo — don't win the Big Ten.

Reason to think they're OK: We've seen it the five games before this. Just not yet on the road.

Also, perhaps ...

3. Kohler’s unexpected debut shows glimpses of how he can change MSU’s offense

Tom Izzo made it clear he wasn’t expecting to play sophomore center Jaxon Kohler on Sunday night. Coming off a preseason foot injury, Kohler hadn’t practiced enough yet to trust he’d be up for this.

When you’re trailing 61-47 in a game that doesn’t appear to be turning your way, why not.

Kohler checked in with 12:41 left in the game and played three minutes. He took and missed one shot. But the shot, which didn’t miss by much and followed a series of post moves to create the open look, was a quick reminder that he offers something different than MSU’s other big men.

Same for a couple passes he threw to teammates, one whipped from underneath the rim to Jaden Akins open in the corner. Akins missed the 3, but it was a shot Kohler created, a look MSU wasn’t getting the first two months of this season.

Kohler’s ability to defend and rebound will determine a lot of his minutes as he comes back — he gave up one layup Sunday and didn’t grab a rebound, though MSU was plus-one for the three minutes he was on the floor. But as he gets his legs and back into a rhythm, you can see how he can change MSU offensively when he’s in the game.

He said a couple interesting things Sunday after his season debut — one being that watching the last two months gave him a better understanding of what this MSU team needs, including his passing from the post.

“I feel like after watching a bunch of games from a different standpoint, there's a lot that I learned over this time of being out,” he said, “and one of those things is moving the ball and knowing what I bring to the table.

“You gain a new way of seeing things — and you're trying to make plays for other people. And I'm glad that I did. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to kind of stand back for a second and see that, from my own eyes.”

He also said he was able keep the changes in his physique — being leaner, quicker and stronger — that had he worked so hard to achieve in the offseason.

He's not the answer to everything MSU is missing. But what he brings is something MSU doesn't have. And it's potentially significant.

Bonus: Freshman thoughts – the Northwestern edition

When Xavier Booker replaces Malik Hall with five minutes to play in a Big Ten road game, you can look at it two ways — that Hall is not playing well and/or that Tom Izzo’s faith in Booker is growing.

The former was definitely the case. Oof. But I also think Booker has done some things in practice that have Izzo looking at him a little more as an option. After all, he entered the game for the first time before fellow freshman Coen Carr did Sunday. Booker’s impact in a little more than five minutes was minimal. But he was out there when the game was on the line and when he screwed up late in the second half, Izzo was on him. You never want to be the player Izzo stops yelling at. Then he’s lost faith. You’d rather draw his ire.

MSU didn’t get much out of this game — other than to be reminded what the road feels like, an education of sorts. Booker was part of that. He should benefit from it.

Carr had a rough night. Just two rebounds and an assist in 12 minutes. The Wildcats ran a lot of actions that made it tough to lean on Carr defensively. Carr is playing a lot of his minutes at small forward now that Jeremy Fears Jr. is out. He’s learning how to defend a different spot than he had been for most of the first two months. That’s going to show itself in some games.

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

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State basketball falls hard Northwestern: 3 quick takes