Spartans react after loss to Duke in Champions Classic

CHICAGO (WILX) - Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans fell to (1-2) on the young season after losing to Duke 74-65 in Tuesday night’s Champions Classic in Chicago.

Shooting woes continue to plague the Spartans who made just 7 of 12 free throw attempts (58%). The Spartans also lagged behind in attempts overall as Duke got to the line 24 times in the game. MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo said the team got good looks, they just didn’t cash them in.

“I just have to worry about ‘are we getting good shots?’ I didn’t think in our loss before we took enough good shots when we move the ball. I thought we had a hell of a good summer and fall shooting the ball and now we’re not shooting the ball. So I’m not going to sit here and cry about it—I’m going to say we got to play better.

“Little things matter—there’s a couple of loose balls we didn’t get that lead to them getting fouled. We cut it down to three. Shots would fall, but we just got to do more altogether,” said MSU Guard Tyson Walker.

“It’s not going to get any easier. The world hasn’t ended. I’m not trying to make light of it. We made some progress today in some things,” said Izzo.

Walker led all scorers on the night with 22 points in the loss.

Next up for MSU is a home game at the Breslin Center against Butler (3-0) Friday night. The game is part of the annual Gavitt Tipoff games that features the Big Ten and Big East conferences going head-to-head. That game will tip off at 6:30 p.m. and can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

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