There was a moment in the first half when you thought Michigan basketball might be able to take control against Michigan State.
After a 15-0 run, the Wolverines pushed their lead to as many as eight points. Yet, the Spartans cut the lead to four points by the half, creating an entirely different feeling entering the locker room.
Michigan State had the momentum and the Spartans carried that over to the second half. In the second half, Michigan simply couldn't get a stop. The Spartans have had better guards all season and they were the difference on Friday night in the 75-62 win.
Michigan basketball allowed the Spartans to shoot 41 percent from 3-point range and rebound over 40 percent of their misses. That and Michigan turning it over on 21 percent of its possessions and shooting 25 percent from 3-point range doomed the Wolverines.
Here are three things we learned.
Michigan basketball needed more from Tre Donaldson
The focus is often on Danny Wolf -- a future first-round pick or the dominant play of center Vlad Goldin, but the engine that drives the Wolverines, when they are playing well, is Tre Donaldson.
We have seen Tre Donaldson look like an All-Big Ten point guard at times this season. In the win over Purdue, he had moments where he simply took over, especially in the early stages when it looked like Purdue might run away with it.
However, Donaldson couldn't be found on a milk carton on Friday night. He was 1-of-5 from the field with three points and two assists. His defensive rating wasn't great either, which is to be expected. Yet, his offensive rating was 0.69. The usage was 10 percent.
Regardless of how good the bigs are, Michigan basketball needs more than it got from Donaldson last night if the Wolverines are going to win the Big Ten or do anything meaningful in March.
Michigan State wanted it more
The Spartans were just the tougher team. Rebounding is about effort and there just wasn't a competition between the Wolverines and Spartans on that front.
One of the back-breaking moments came when Michigan State rebounded a miss, then kicked it out for a wide-open Tre Holloman 3-pointer. He made a couple midway through the second half that pushed Michigan State's lead to eight.
The Wolverines made a little run to get within four, but the Spartans just played a more physical brand of basketball and bulled their way to a win, with the help of some stellar outside shooting.
Izzo's defensive plan worked
Just like he used to do with Hunter Dickinson, Tom Izzo essentially played it straight up with Vlad Goldin on Friday night.
Goldin had a productive game making 7-of-11 shots from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line on his way to 21 points but Vlad had zero assists. As a team, the Wolverines had 12 and most of them came from Danny Wolf.
At times, I wish Wolf would have been more aggressive seeking his own shot. But essentially, Izzo didn't offer a ton of help on Wolf or Goldin. Those players were able to score the ball some, but the ball movement was more stagnant on the Michigan side of things and the Spartans didn't allow many open looks from 3-point range.
Michigan State allowed 61 percent on 2-point attempts. The Spartans converted just 48 percent but after ranking 16th in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage, the Spartans shot lights out. Michigan also shot so poorly, it's two 2-point dominance didn't really matter.
It felt like the plan was to let Vlad and Danny get their points, although Vlad also had four turnovers, while limiting the guards' effectiveness, and it worked perfectly. Roddy Gayle, Rubin Jones, and Donaldson went a combined 3-of-14. That's where Michigan lost the game.