Following the game, Tom Izzo had high praise for the Trojans. "They got good players, and they got good size," Izzo said. "Those guards are bigger than ours, and the 4-men are smaller. And it was just a tough matchup for us.

It was a simple message from Tom Izzo following Michigan State's loss at USC on Saturday: "what starts bad, ends bad."

This is the Spartans’ first loss outside of Quad 1, but they also have just two wins over teams that would be safely in the field today.