5-game winning streak ends for IU

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Losing for the first time Saturday since its 34 point loss at Wisconsin Jan. 6, the IU men's basketball team fell to second place in the Big Ten after its 84-72 loss to Michigan State.\n"Michigan State is really good," IU coach Mike Davis said. "I told the guys that before the game."\nWith the loss, IU (11-7, 5-2 Big Ten) doesn't sit alone in second place. The win for the Spartans (10-8, 5-2) puts Michigan State in the same spot.\nDavis said that IU and MSU had similar non-league schedules and both schools put their reputation on the line by playing such a tough schedule.\n"I'm pulling for them," Davis said of the Spartans. "I want them to win. Of course today I wanted them to lose, but there's no way we can beat them here the way they played and the way we played."\nHad IU played the entire ballgame like they did the majority of the first half, things may have ended differently for the Hoosiers.\nSophomore guard Bracey Wright hit three treys in the first seven minutes of the game. He finished the game with a team high 29 points and four assists.\n"I knew they would end up trying to take me out of it since I got hot early," Wright said. "I was really just trying to weather the storm there for a second. Basically, I was trying to calm everybody down."\nIU's largest lead was by eight points with less than four minutes left in the first half. But two field goals and a trey from MSU brought the score within one point at the break, 35-34.\nDavis said he thought IU fought hard in the first half but relaxed a couple of times and gave MSU too many wide open shots in the second half.\n"In the second half, we needed to get Bracey the ball," Davis said. "They made the game in the first half too hard for us to play in the second half. When they hit every open shot, it's really tough."\nDavis said he was hoping IU would do something in the first 10 minutes of the second half to give them confidence down the stretch, but Davis didn't get what he wanted.\nIU lost its lead less than four minutes into the second half and was down by 19 points on two different occasions.\nSophomore guard Marshall Strickland chipped in nine points for IU in the second half for a total of 14 points in the game, but it still wasn't enough to hold off the Spartans.\nMSU's top scorer was sophomore center Paul Davis, who had 32 points. Three other Spartans scored in double figures.\nDavis gave credit to MSU coach Tom Izzo, saying he's one of the best coaches in college basketball.\n"It would have been tough for us to win in the second half, even if everything had been clicking, because of this (MSU) team," Davis said. \nIU tried to make a quick comeback and started fouling the Spartans with just under 3:30 left in the game. MSU was 19 of 28 on free-throws in the second half. \n"We let up a little bit at the end and give them (IU) credit, they didn't quit and kept playing," Izzo said.\nEven through their second loss on the road, the IU players said their confidence is still high. Like Davis pointed out to them, IU is the only team with six home games left on their schedule.\nWright said the loss wasn't bad for the Hoosiers and that they will be fine.\n"Even though we lost, it's not like we're at the bottom of the pile right now," Wright said. "Second place. We're 5-2 in the Big Ten."\n-- Contact staff writer Natalie A. Trout at natrout@indiana.edu.