Michigan State's struggles have been well-documented, but they played a heck of a game for about 36 minutes at Ohio State last night. The Spartans kept it close most of the way, trailing by only four points with four and a half minutes remaining, but the Buckeyes used frequent trips to the line to pull away for a 71-61 victory.

The Spartans relentlessly fed the post, completely abandoning the perimeter-oriented approach that was clearly no longer working for them. It was an effective strategy when they were able to get a shot up--Michigan State shot 60 percent on twos--but all that manuevering in traffic led to turnovers on 30 percent of MSU's possessions.

That's one of the standard trade-offs of going inside, but one of the standard benefits--a high free throw rate--was nowhere to be found. Ohio State managed to reach and slap at the ball to the tune of nine steals while only fouling 12 times, despite Michigan State rarely taking an outside shot. The result was a paltry six trips to the line for the Spartans. We've said it before--it's awfully tough to be efficient when relying entirely on twos, and that's what Michigan State had to do. The end result was 0.98 points per possession, the fifth time in 13 conference games that the up-and-down Spartans were held below a point per trip.

With Jared Sullinger limited to 27 minutes due to foul trouble, Ohio State took a more perimeter-oriented approach than normal, with 35 percent of their shots coming from beyond the arc, yet they were still able to get to the foul line with amazing frequency. Below is a table of each player's free throw rate (FTA/FGA) coming in vs their free throw rate for last night:

Those free tosses proved to be crucial to the Buckeye offense, as their shooting from the field (47 percent on twos, 35 percent on threes) was not up to their normal standards. The staple of the Ohio State offense--a low turnover rate--was in full effect, as the Buckeyes turned it over only seven times. Giving a team like Ohio State a +12 margin in turnovers is a recipe for disaster, and it speaks to Michigan State's effectiveness elsewhere that this game was even close. The Buckeyes ended up scoring 1.14 points per trip, a very good output that is becoming ho-hum for them.

William Buford rode hot shooting to 23 points on 15 shots, while David Lighty and Jon Diebler combined for 24 points on 16 shots. Jared Sullinger was held to 11 points and two rebounds.

Michigan State was led by Kalin Lucas' 14 points on 15 shots, while the young inside trio of Adreian Payne, Derrick Nix, and Garrick Sherman combined for 23 points on 13 shots. Mike Kebler rekindled my desire for a Kebler's Elves fan section with 8 points on 6 shots and 4 rebounds in place of the struggling Durrell Summers (zero points in 16 minutes).

For Ohio State, this gets them back on the winning track before their big Sunday matchup at Purdue. The Buckeyes can squash any title hopes that might remain in Madison or West Lafayette with a victory. For Michigan State, this was an expected loss, and there were enough positives to help their confidence going forward. Their Saturday home game against Illinois is absolutely crucial to their NCAA Tournament hopes.

Tonight, it's another Super Wednesday live blog, as we'll be commenting on both games on the Big Ten Network. We'll be joined by a special guest, Phil Mitten of Buckys5thquarter.com. At 5:30pm CT, it's a huge matchup as Purdue hosts Wisconsin. The winner of this game can still hold onto slim title hopes, while the loser is likely out of the running. It's Big Two versus Big Two in West Lafayette--should be a great one.

The 7:30pm CT nightcap is another very interesting game, as Illinois hosts surging Michigan. These are two teams headed in the opposite direction, as Illinois has lost six of their last nine and Michigan has won five of six. A Michigan upset would turn their chances for a 9-9 record from "slim" to "more likely than not." Illinois can reach nine wins by holding serve at home against Michigan, Iowa, and Indiana, but they'd be wise to not look past a single one of those opponents, lest they be relegated to another NIT.

- Posted by Mike Portscheller