Michigan State basketball: Where’s the veteran-led team we thought we had?

Michigan State basketball was expected to have one of the most veteran-led, experienced teams in the country. Where has it been?

This Michigan State basketball team may just be one of the most confusing teams in the Tom Izzo era. So much has gone wrong this season, and that all was exemplified in its 65-64 loss to Indiana. A lot of questions came to my mind after this loss, but one thing stood out in my mind.

Why doesn’t this team play like the veteran-led team they are?

Mistakes veteran teams don’t make

• Slow starts

Starting slow has probably been the most frustrating thing this season. I’m not saying Michigan State can’t have the occasional slow start, every team does that, but this team does it seemingly every game. The last two games have been the worst examples of it this year.

In both the Northwestern and Indiana games, MSU only had seven points more than halfway through the first half. That honestly takes starting slow to a whole new level. You wouldn’t expect a veteran team like Michigan State to struggle so much at the start of every single game because they should know by now how important playing a full 40 minutes is. But that has been a huge issue all season, and one of the reasons for many of their losses.

• Lack of a vocal leader

I think this Michigan State team has some guys who lead by example, but they don’t have the “in your face” type of leader like we are used to seeing at MSU. This team doesn’t have a Draymond Green-type player who will get in your face if you aren’t doing the right thing.

The most vocal player on the team is probably Davis Smith. That’s great that he is willing to speak up, but it would be much more effective if someone who regularly plays took on this role. You never can expect underclassmen to be too vocal, but you can expect seniors to be. Michigan State has an abundance of seniors this year, yet none want to step up and lead this team.

• Failure to win close games

The last thing that perplexes me is the failure for Michigan State to win close games. I don’t expect them to win every close game, but they have a shocking number of close losses this year.

Nine of Michigan State’s 13 losses have been by seven points or less. Just think how different this season would be if just four of them were wins. MSU might have a double bye in the Big Ten tournament and would be nowhere near the NCAA Tournament bubble. Veteran teams typically know how to win these games, especially when they have a lead late in the game. But MSU for whatever reason can’t find a way to win these close games.

It might be too little too late for this team as they might not be able to change the bad habits they’ve formed. But the Spartans are going to have to find a way to start acting like the veteran team they are if they want to even win one game the rest of the season.