Playing their toughest game of the season, the Wisconsin Badgers fell short in a hard-fought 71-62 loss to the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday in a back-and-forth game.

Facing one of the best defenses in the country, the Badgers were held to a season-low 62 points on 33.8 percent from the field, failing to muster enough offense in the second half to get ahead of Michigan State.

With the loss, Wisconsin fell to 22-7 on the season and 12-6 in conference play, moving behind the Maryland Terrapins in the Big Ten standings with two games to go.

Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s 71-62 loss to Michigan State on Sunday.

Three-point woes

The Wisconsin Badgers were uncharacteristically bad from three on Sunday, shooting an ugly 5/32 (15.6 percent) from deep. Not only were they missing at a high rate, but nearly 50 percent of their shot attempts were from deep, leading to their worst offensive output of the season.

Not a single Badger hit more than one three on the day, as John Tonje and John Blackwell was a combined 2/15 from deep.

Wisconsin didn’t course-correct in the second half, as they shot 3/16 from three in the final period.

Michigan State, on the other hand, shot better than their season average of 29.5 percent, hitting 9/27 of their threes, while not forcing too many attempts from deep.

A majority of the success came from top guards Jaden Akins and Jase Richardson, who combined to shoot 7/15 from deep, which was good enough for the Spartans.

Wisconsin has lived and died from the three this season. On Sunday, they died, and in a really rough way.

Rebounding

The Badgers played some pretty darn good defense against Michigan State, closing off the lanes and forcing them into some threes, resulting in the Spartans shooting just 43 percent inside the arc on the day.

Wisconsin especially limiting the attacking of Akins, who was 2/9 inside the arc, while holding Michigan State to under a point per possession. Usually, when that’s the case, the Badgers are seeing themselves in the win column.

Well, one crucial area that hurt them on Sunday was the rebounding, specifically the offensive glass.

Michigan State corralled in 13 offensive rebounds, compared to eight for Wisconsin, with forward Jaxon Kohler accounting for seven of those.

A tired Badgers team gave up too many second possessions on Sunday, not allowing them to establish themselves more on the offensive end.

Transition

The tides began to turn in the first half after a strong 13-4 start for Wisconsin when an and-1 opportunity was taken away from John Tonje.

From there, Michigan State climbed back in with a 15-4 run of their own to take the lead, really benefitting from transition.

Really pushing the pace in transition, the Spartans finished with 20 fastbreak points compared to just eight for Wisconsin, which was a clear advantage for Michigan State in a close game.

That negatively impacted the Badgers at times, as they seemed to work too fast on occasion to try and meet Michigan State’s pace, which didn’t end in quality possessions.

Wisconsin needed more post touches to slow the game down and get more high-quality shots offensively. But, that didn’t happen after the first possession, leading to Michigan State having an advantage with their pace.

Wisconsin was good in a lot of departments, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They also limited turnovers and hit over 80 percent of their free throws without fouling much. But, these three factors were detrimental in the loss, serving as big reasons for the result on Sunday.