The Struggling Spartans

The Michigan State Spartans began the season ranked 13th overall on both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll. They started their season off strong winning game after game to climb the polls. By the fourth week of the season, the Spartans had managed to reach the 3rd overall ranking in both the AP and Coaches Polls. By the fifth week, after many upsets, Head Coach Tom Izzo's team had fought their way to the Number One Ranked Overall team. The Spartans were looking great and boasted wins over the then-ranked Number Four Kansas Jayhawks and the then-ranked 24th overall Louisville Cardinals. They sat atop the rankings for 4-straight weeks, twice as long as the two teams that were ranked first overall before them. Their season was looking fantastic, until they began their Big Ten Season traveling to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes.
The Spartans knew that this would be a tough match up against one of the more explosive teams in the Big Ten. While they weren't underestimating the Hawkeyes, they still knew that they had the edge in this competition. Even though they would have to play without their star player Denzel Valentine, the Spartans were still a great team, and Michigan State hadn't lost to the Hawkeyes since the 2010-2011 season when they lost all three games against the Hawks. Since then, the Spartans had won seven straight against the Hawks both at home and on the road.
However this match went drastically different than anyone could have ever predicted. The then 13-0 Spartans couldn't find their rhythm without their leader, and trailed the entire game. The Hawkeyes led throughout all 40 minutes of the game and were able to defeat the Spartans and shock the nation. The Spartans were the third Number One Ranked team to lose during this crazy season.
Distraught, the Spartans knew they had to step up their game and not underestimate any more teams this season. They got back on track the next game on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers and continued their win streak with a 25-point victory at home against the Illinois Fighting Illini. After their leader in Valentine returned for their next game, the Spartans obliterated the Nittany Lions on the road at Penn State, but they weren't too concerned with that match up, their focus was on their next game, the one that Tom Izzo was sure to circle. The next game Michigan State would play would be at home against the team that ended their perfect season and dethroned them from the Number One Ranking: the Iowa Hawkeyes.
While many believed Iowa's previous victory was just a fluke considering that the Spartans were without Denzel Valentine and they also had to play on the road, every Spartan fan knew that this was not going to be an easy victory against the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes were having a really good season, and although they hadn't won in the Jack Breslin Student Event Center in East Lansing, Michigan since 1993, they had been the only team to have defeated the Spartans this season.
The Spartans started off the game strong with a three-pointer from Denzel Valentine, but that was about as good as it got for all the MSU fans watching. The Hawks quickly took the lead with two fast buckets to make the score 5-3 Hawkeyes. The Spartans did score two straight buckets afterward to take the lead 7-5, but once the Hawkeyes retook the lead, the Spartans never got it back. Michigan State trailed Iowa at the half 25-47, and eventually lost the game 59-76.
Since their loss they dropped two straight against the Wisconsin Badgers and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They now have a record of 16-4 and hope to get out of their slump against the Number 7 Ranked Maryland Terrapins.