Wildcats falter late in 53-49 loss at Michigan State

Down two starters to injury, Northwestern couldn't pull off the upset in East Lansing.

The Spartans escaped with a 53-49 win on their Senior Night, with 19 points from Tyson Walker to seal the deal.

Northwestern, which was playing without starting center Matt Nicholson and Ty Berry, had the ball, trailing 51-49, with a chance to win the game in the closing seconds. But Ryan Langborg's open look at a three-pointer off of an inbounds play rimmed out with 10 seconds left.

Tre Holloman sunk two free throws for the Spartans to provide the final margin.

Each team's top players put in a Herculean effort in a duel that produced a tournament-like atmosphere. Four players scored 45 of Northwestern's 49 points, and four players scored 52 of Michigan State's 53 points. Six different players logged 37 or more minutes, four for Northwestern and two for Michigan State.

Boo Buie, who had built a reputation as a Spartan Slayer, came up just short in his final game at the Breslin Center. He finished with a team-high 15 points, but had a turnover and missed a shot down the stretch, when he is customarily at his best. He was joined in double figures by Nick Martinelli with 12 and Brooks Barnhizer with 11.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's penultimate regular season game that left them with a record of 20-10 (11-8 Big Ten):

Free throws came back to haunt the Wildcats: Basketball is rarely so linear as to say missed free throws down the stretch would have flipped the game. But the Wildcats did themselves no favors at the charity stripe, even as Michigan State was a dismal 13-for-20 in their own right.

Northwestern missed their last three free throws, finishing 6-for-10 in a game they lost by four. Michigan State, on the other hand, made all four of their final free throws, including Holloman's two clinchers with nine seconds left.

Again, it can't be directly attributed to a win in this instance: we don't know how it may have shaped the result. But there's little question that a few makes would have altered both team's strategy at the end of the game.

The Wildcats ran into similar problems in their overtime loss at Minnesota. It's a demon that Northwestern needs to exorcise, but it may prove as difficult as the logical alternative: getting more rest for Barnhizer and Langborg to freshen their legs. That's off the table as injuries have gutted Northwestern's competitive depth.

Langborg, who was listed questionable pregame, finished with seven points on 2-for-12 shooting in his first game back after a sprained ankle kept him out of the last two games.

Seven-deep rotation: Head coach Chris Collins played eight players, but with just four minutes from Justin Mullins, it was a de facto seven-man rotation. The Wildcats continue to wring every last bit of effort they can get out of their core players, but their reservoirs of energy are not limitless. With a depleted team, Collins can't do much to keep his core from playing 38+ minutes per night, beyond, improbably, giving more run to Blake Smith.

Smith was a +6 in 16 minutes and has proven he can be an invaluable piece to give players a brief respite, or substitute in as the fifth man in small-ball lineups. Luke Hunger struggled starting in the place of Nicholson, who the Big Ten Network reported will be reevaluated at the end of this week with hopes of a return for the Big Ten Tournament.

Hunger picked up two fouls within the game's first two minutes and struggled to find a rhythm when reinserted in the second half. A missed one-and-one free throw kept the game at 46-45 in Northwestern's favor, and Holloman took the lead back with two free throws of his own at 3:18. The Spartans would lead the rest of the game.

Blake Preston played 11 minutes but was held scoreless with two rebounds. He was able to find Martinelli on a really sharp rotation for an easy bucket, but the Wildcats often looked out-of-sorts or on different pages with Preston in the mix.

Hunger should get one more crack at starting in hopes of getting him in a better flow without foul trouble. But it's possible that Collins stumbled across his team's best lineup at the moment against the Spartans: Buie and Langborg in the backcourt; and Smith, Barnhizer and Martinelli in the front court.

There were plenty of rebounding struggles with that small-ball lineup, as Michigan State outrebounded Northwestern 46-35 overall and 19-10 offensively. But those problems persisted anyways with Hunger and Preston.

Smith gives Northwestern a twitchy athlete on the perimeter and five switchable defenders. He still struggles under pressure, he had an errant pass to Barnhizer in the halfcourt that should have been avoidable, but he is growing more comfortable by the game.

Should Hunger struggle against Minnesota, Collins should consider going back to that smaller lineup before going to Preston.

Don't take Langborg's contributions for granted: Langborg missed his open shot for the lead in the closing seconds. But that shouldn't be the takeaway tonight.

In his first game back from an ankle injury, Langborg left it all on the floor. Yes, he struggled with 2-for-12 shooting, but he hit a key shot to keep the Wildcats in the game and put his body on the line. Even with a brace on his ankle, the Spartans were unable to target him effectively on defense. He also had four rebounds, an assist and just one turnover.

His team needed him desperately tonight and Langborg did all he could to answer that call. And for that level of dedication and toughness to come from a transfer, a player who hasn't even been in Evanston for a year yet, is truly impressive and should be given its proper due.

The pressure is on: Northwestern went into tonight's game projected to be an eight-seed in the NCAA Tournament, per Big Ten Network's Mike DeCourcy. The heat is now turned all the way up as they take on Minnesota in their final game of the regular season on Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

A narrow loss on the road at Michigan State should dispel concerns of a severe drop off without Nicholson, and the potential for a Big Ten Tournament return is fantastic news. However, a win against Minnesota is still needed for two reasons.

First, to eliminate all doubt about disassociating this team from its resume due to injury. Reaching the same marks as last season's tournament team, 21 overall wins and 12 Big Ten wins, is key not just for symmetry, but for legitimacy.

Second, to secure the double-bye in the conference tourney. The Wildcats now sit in fourth and have lost a chance at the second seed with a loss. They can regain the third seed with a Nebraska loss at Michigan and a win over Minnesota.

They can be knocked out of fourth by Wisconsin should the Badgers beat Purdue on the road, but that is highly unlikely. It's paramount that Northwestern avoids a third-straight loss, as it would plunge them into a mess of tiebreakers with nine-loss Big Ten teams that could send them as low as the eighth seed.

Even though tonight was a heartbreaker, a team that can push Michigan State to the brink in East Lansing is more than capable of beating Minnesota at home to strengthen their NCAA Tournament hand.

The Wildcats have leaned heavily on their core all season long, at a rate unparalleled in the conference, and nearly across the nation. They just need to deliver one more game to cement themselves in Northwestern history as the first team to go to consecutive NCAA Tournaments -- and they may be able to clinch that feat without it.