3 reasons Butler basketball stumbled vs. Michigan State for first loss of season

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Butler played its first road game of the season and No. 19 Michigan State handed the Bulldogs their first loss, 74-54, Friday at the Breslin Center.

Jahmyl Telfort led Butler with 15 points. MSU transfer Pierre Brooks II added 13 points. Telfort and Brooks were the only players in double figures. Butler had put at least four players in double figures in its first three games.

Insider:Butler hits speedbump in first real test, must learn from loss

Frontcourt foul trouble, can't protect paint

Michigan State (2-2) got whatever it wanted in the paint against Butler (3-1). Its guards were too quick to be contained on the perimeter, quick enough to turn the corner on Butler's bigs and strong enough to finish through contact. The constant drives to the basket put Butler's frontcourt in foul trouble, forcing them to be even more passive when defending the rim.

Andre Screen and Boden Kapke each picked up three fouls in the first half. Jalen Thomas and Posh Alexander each had two first-half fouls. Screen struggled to keep driving Spartans in front of him. Playing in his first Division I road game, things seemed a little too fast for Kapke at times. Thomas protected the paint well, but foul trouble limited his aggressiveness.

MSU had a 16-10 first-half advantage on points in the paint. The host finished with a 40-16 advantage.

Tyson Walker catches fire

MSU guard Tyson Walker was the main beneficiary of the Spartans ability to get anywhere on the court. Walker scored at the rim, connected from 3 off of kick outs to the perimeter and created for himself with pull-up jumpers. He scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half on 6-of-11 shooting.

Walker deferred to his teammates for much of the second half. In the final four minutes, Walker iced the game with two driving layups. His dished inside to Carson Cooper for a two-handed dunk and followed with an assist to Jeremy Fears Jr. for 3, putting the Spartans up 19 with 2:15 left.

"We really struggled in the pick-and-roll, and Walker is one of the best guards in the country," Matta said. "We did not get the coverage that we needed. He got down(hill) and when guys were making shots, we hadn't seen him do that on the kick outs and we knew they could. We had to pick our poison a little bit and that's what they did to us."

Dawgs cold from deep

When MSU's offense started heating up, the Dawgs could not close the gap. Butler shot just 2-of-10 from 3 in the first half. They finished 7-for-25 (28%).

D.J. Davis struggled with his confidence at times, passing up open shots and looking indecisive on drives to the basket. MSU did a great job of crowding Davis and not letting him get open looks from 3. Brooks finished with 13 points but was inefficient, shooting 4-for-11 from the field.

"I thought we did a hell of a job defensively, the first half especially," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "I told the Davis kid after the game, he's a hell of a player on 1-for-8 and I just want to give our guys some credit on that."

Brooks had to control his emotions playing in his former home arena. His best play came on a baseline two-handed slam in the first half. The dunk cut Butler's deficit to six, but Brooks picked up a technical foul on the play, leading to two Spartan free throws sparking an 11-5 run to end the half.

Telfort's 3-point shooting kept Butler in the game. His second 3 of the second half cut the Dawgs deficit to nine, but the Spartans answered with consecutive 3s of their own, squashing Butler's momentum.

Follow IndyStar Butler Insider Akeem Glaspie on X at @THEAkeemGlaspie.